§ Mr. J. A. PARKINSONasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that a K Company pensioner's starting pay in the Post Office is, by reason of the skill acquired by service in the Royal Engineers, higher than it would otherwise have been and that he cannot be granted augmented pay and also pension in respect of the same period of time, he will state why the practice hitherto in force of suspending pensions has been modified, having regard to the fact that such suspensions were expressly agreed to by the representatives of the men concerned in giving evidence before the Holt Committee; whether he is aware that that practice was a factor in securing Mr. Holt's pension recommendation; whether he is aware that other Army pensioned telegraphists in the Post Office, unconnected with K Company, also acquired telegraphic skill by service in other branches of the Army; whether they received higher starting pay than they would have received without the skill; if so, why no part of their pension is deducted; whether he is aware that the augmented pay in the case of K Company is based on the actual length of service attributable to that company in order that a K Company telegraphist shall, when he goes to the Post Office, be on the same financial level as a civilian colleague of equal service and position and that the skill ordinarily attainable by Royal Engineer telegraphists employed in the Post Office is common to all other telegraphists employed therein and by reason of which annual increments are in similar manner common to all; and whether he will consider the advisability, without detriment to any present K Company pensioner, of reverting to the practice sanctioned by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury on the 28th May, 1898, and of treating the military pensions in the same way during the period of final retirement as recommended by Mr. Holt?
§ Mr. BALDWINI am aware of no other modification than that referred to in my reply to the hon. and gallant Member for Southampton on the 23rd May last, and that only applied to those men formerly in K Company who are appointed to technical posts in the Engineering Department. Military telegraphists, other than those who have served in K Company, enter at the minimum of the scale of pay (i.e., the twenty-one years of age pay). As2058W to the suggestion in the last part of the question, I would again refer the hon. Member to the answer given on the 23rd May last.
§ Mr. PARKINSONasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that, in giving evidence before the Holt Committee on Post Office servants, the representatives of ex-K Company telegraphists expressed their acquiescence in the Treasury practice of withholding military pensions earned by service attributable to K Company, on the principle that concurrent pay and pension in respect of the same period of time could not be justified; whether he is aware that they urged that the practice justified their claim to have the principle applied to the period of ultimate retirement also, and to have substituted for the withheld military pension a Civil Service pension on final retirement; whether this was in effect recommended by Mr. Holt; whether the practice has since been modified; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of reintroducing the old practice, with a view to the reconsideration of the claim preferred and of the recommendation made in favour of those men?
§ Mr. BALDWINI would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. and gallant Member for Southampton on the 23rd May last.