§ Mr. WILKIEasked the Minister of Pensions whether the late Private Anthony Joseph McNamara, No. 52,447, Royal Army Service Corps, was called up on mobilisation on 4th August, 1914, and was discharged from the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, on 17th November, 1920, suffering from chronic gastritis, being finally discharged from the Army on 17th November, 1920, as unfit for further service, after giving only six year's service; whether he was continuously under treatment for this dis- 632W ability from the date of discharge until he died on 21st March, 1921; whether his death was stated to be due to gastric ulcers, and his family doctor has certified that he was healthy before the War, and the condition of his ill-health was brought on by war service; whether his widow, Mrs. McNamara, 80, Blackness Road, Dundee, has been compelled to apply for parish relief for herself and four children pending a decision of the Ministry of Pensions on her application for pension, owing to the local war pensions committee being now prevented by amended instructions from making allowances or grants in such cases; and whether he will facilitate a decision in this case, and consider whether the powers that local war pensions committees previously had to make weekly allowances where there were reasonable prospects of pensions being awarded should be restored?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONEntitlement to a widow's pension has now been admitted in this case, and, pending an award under Article 11 of the Royal Warrant, the local committee has been authorised to make advances to the widow. With regard to the last part of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I am giving him to-day, in reply to a general question on the subject.
§ Mr. WILKIEasked the Minister of Pensions whether the Dundee Local War Pensions Committee has protested against the restrictions which have been imposed upon local committees, since the publication of the local committee handbook of January, 1920, in regard to widows' claims to pension as dealt with under paragraph 101; whether, as a result of these restrictions, numerous soldiers' widows and orphans have been compelled to seek relief from the parish council; whether he will consider the restoration of this paragraph to its original terms; or whether, alternatively, he will consider the revision of the Regulations of the Special Grants Committee so as to admit of grants being made where recommended by a local committee pending the decision of the widows' claim by the Ministry, and, where the widow's claim has been rejected, pending the decision of an appeal by the widow to the independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONParagraph 101 of the 1920 handbook authorised advances 633W where the local committee considered the prospect of an award of pension under Article 11 of the Royal Warrant reasonably clear. In the 1921 handbook this authority is limited to cases in which the cause of the man's death does not differ from the disability for which he had been admitted to the benefits of the Royal Warrant. I am satisfied that this change is reasonable, and I am not therefore prepared to accept the modifications suggested by my hon. Friend.