§ Commander BELLAIRSasked the Minister of Health whether he 1935W is aware that a pensioner on discharge from a Poor Law institution may have to wait a fortnight or more before receiving any pension; and whether he is prepared to adopt a suggestion of the Old Age Pensions Committee of Maidstone that the amount due to the pensioner should be paid to the guardians so that the pensioner should receive pension immediately on leaving?
§ Mr. PETHICK-LAWRENCEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, but I may point out that the persons affected may put in applications for new pensions while they are still inmates, so that a book of pension orders may be handed to them at the time when they are discharged. There does not appear to be any reason, therefore, why the present system should cause hardship, and I do not contemplate making the change suggested.