§ Major HILLSasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that Charles Frederick Holmes, of 32, Briggate, Knaresborough, No. 1,040, is 70 years of age and maintains himself by selling watercress, which he gathers from the local streams; that the pensions officer objected to his claim for an old age pension on the ground that his means exceeded £49 7s. 6d. per annum and estimated his earnings at £l a week; that the sub-committee allowed the claim, being of opinion that even if watercress were available all the year round he could not make more than 10s. a week; that the officer appealed to the Ministry and the Ministry upheld the appeal; and whether he will inquire into the case with a view to granting full pension?
Sir H. YOUNGYes, Sir, the claimant failed to produce evidence satisfying me, as the Old Age Pension Acts require, that his yearly means did not exceed the statutory limit for a pension, and I was therefore obliged under the Statutes to disallow the claim. If he is now in a position to show that his yearly means are within the statutory limit, a fresh claim can be made.