§ Mr. F. ROBERTSasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what are the conditions under which gratuities are granted, under Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1867, to temporary officials of Government Departments on completing seven years' service; whether the qualifying period is reckoned from 1st September, 1921, only; whether officials with over seven years' service, whose appointments were terminated on grounds of redundancy before 1st September, 1928, are excluded from consideration; and, if so, why?
Mr. SAMUELUnder Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, the Treasury may, if they think fit, grant compassionate gratuities to whole-time unestablished employés whose remuneration is paid entirely out of moneys provided by Parliament, if they have served for not less than seven years and are removed in consequence of the abolition of their employment. In the case of persons other than industrial employés who were engaged during the War period from 4th August, 1914, to 31st August, 1921, service is reckoned only from 1st September, 1921, the date of the official termination of the War, since it is not considered that their temporary employment during the War period could properly be regarded as coming within the category of non-pensionable employment to which the Section was intended to apply. Accordingly, gratuities have not been Awarded to such persons if they were discharged before 1st September, 1928.