§ Captain GEEasked the Secretary of State for War whether many members of the clerical staff of Woolwich Arsenal have recently been dismissed and deprived of the gratuity to which they are entitled after seven years' service: and, if so, why?
§ Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYMy hon. and gallant Friend is presumably referring to the compassionate gratuity under Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1887. No person is entitled to a gratuity under that Section, and it is not considered that temporary clerks engaged in connection with the War, who happen to have been retained as long as seven years, can properly be regarded as coming within the category of non-pensionable employment to which the Act was intended to apply.