§ Mr. W. BAKERasked the Minister of Pensions if treatment is only given by the Ministry of Pensions in respect of disabilities due to war service and accepted as such; and, if so, whether he will consider such amendments of the Royal Warrants and Orders in Council as will secure the grant of pension to the widow and children of any pensioner who dies while under treatment in a Ministry of Pensions institution?
§ Major TRYONThe need of medical or surgical treatment for a war disability is the normal criterion for admission to hospital; but a patient's case may be, and often is, complicated by conditions (as, for example, by some other disease) which are not due to his war service. Where death occurs, all the factors in the case have to be considered in determining a claim to pension on the part of the man's widow. I could not, therefore, in equity, recommend an extension of the Warrants, which would have the effect of imposing a liability to award pension in a number of cases where the man's death was not the result of war service.
§ Mr. BAKERasked the Minister of Pensions if he will state, to the last convenient date, the number of widows, whose husbands died more than seven years after discharge, who have been refused a pension under Article 17a of the Royal Warrant of January, 1924; and the number of cases where the degree of disablement of the pensioners was assessed at 40 per cent., 50 per cent., 60 per cent., 70 per cent., 80 per cent., 90 per cent., and 100 per cent., respectively?
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§ Major TRYONThe records of my Department do not, I fear, enable me to give the detailed information asked for with regard to the particular sub-head of the Article referred to.