HC Deb 30 June 1925 vol 185 cc2239-40W
Mr. SAKLATVALA

asked the Minister of Pensions if he will inquire into the case of Mr. I. A. Sabido, of Golden Hill, near Pembroke, an ex-civil servant under the Honduras Government, who enlisted during the War and was sent to Salonika, where he was wounded, and as a result had his eye taken out; whether he is aware that Mr. Sabido has a wife and four children and only receives a pension of £6 per month from the Civil Service; and will he consider his claim to a pension in respect of his war injuries?

Mr. AMERY

The Minister of Pensions has asked me to reply to this question. Mr. Sabido is already in receipt of pension of $144 in respect of his war injuries, in addition to the full pension to which he is entitled as a civil servant, amounting to $311.

Sir R. HUTCHISON

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into the case of Private G. A. Bigwood, No. 77,939, Durham Light Infantry, who, being mentally afflicted through his war service and his having been a prisoner of war interned in Germany, made application for a pension, and whose claim at the appeals entitlement tribunal, heard at Newcastle-on-Tyne in January, 1924, was refused; and is he aware that Private Bigwood, having been an inmate of Sedgfield Asylum, county Durham, from May to September, 1923, lost his employment as a bank clerk upon his release, and is now still suffering from his war service and is without any means of subsistence?

Major TRYON

If, as I gather, the hon. and gallant Member refers to Private G. A. Bidgood, the facts are that Mr. Bidgood was demobilised in May, 1919, and it was not until June, 1923, that he first claimed pension in respect of mental trouble, and the Ministry were unable at the time to find any connection between his military service and his mental disability, of whose existence there was no evidence prior to May, 1923. The claim had, therefore, to be rejected, and the Ministry's decision was confirmed by the Pensions Appeal Tribunal in January, 1924. I regret that I am not aware of any evidence which would justify me in reconsidering this case.