Mr. PRESTONasked the Minister of Pensions whether, to ensure quicker and more sympathetic treatment of hard cases, he will investigate the facts relating to the pension application of Mrs. Silvester, of Short Acre Street, Walsall; whether he is aware that the inquest on her husband showed that his death was due to a bullet in the lungs received in the War, setting up pleurisy and hæmorrhage; that the (husband was actually in receipt of a disability pension for some malady; that the coroner's certificate was submitted to his Department stating the cause of death on 8th October, on which day also the widow's claim in proper order was lodged at the local pension office; that for a month the Department took no notice of the application, and the widow, who has five children, would have been obliged to 2062W accept public charity but for the action of the local branch of the United Services Fund; and that, on repeated representations, the sum of 8s. per week only was granted, one month after the man's death; whether this sum represents the maximum assistance which can be given to such a widow, two of whose children are pensionable; why the Department waited until 12th November before asking for the coroner's depositions; whether the verdict of a coroner's jury is officially accepted in such cases as reliable; and whether steps can be taken to shorten the period of suffering in any cases of this nature, which present no complications and which could, under the Regulations, be dealt with on a provisional basis?
§ Major TRYONI fully appreciate the importance of dealing promptly and sympathetically with all claims to pension, but my horn. Friend will readily understand that eases in which death occurs many years after the man's discharge from service necessarily involve, in the ordinary course, more careful investigation. I have, however, given instructions that in cases of this type special arrangements shall be made to deal with the claim expeditiously.