Written Answers
Excise (Outdoor Branch)
asked the Secretary to the Treasury (1) whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction throughout the Excise outdoor branch at the method of allocation employed in awarding the honorarium granted last December by the Treasury, since supervisors, who had least to do with the pension work of the time, received the largest sums; whether he is aware that a supervisor who had only one pension station in his district was awarded as much as a supervisor who had seven such stations and consequently seven times the pension work, and that officers employed at distillery stations who had shared in the pension and licence work were not awarded a share of the honorarium; if, in these circumstances, he will see that the case of these distillery officers who can show that they shared in the pressure of the pension and licence work will be sympathetically considered; and (2) whether at the interview given on 17th November, 1910, to certain Excise outdoor officials by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, there was present a representative of those distillery officers who shared in the pressure of pension and licence work, since of the five outdoor officials present at the interview not one was employed at a distillery; and was the fact that, although from purely accidental causes those distillery officers who were not actually engaged on this particular work yet, in the words of the Chief Inspector of Excise, got no kudos despite the fact that, according to the same authority they gladly shouldered additional work in order to set free their colleagues, brought to the notice of the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the inter view in question?
The Board of Customs and Excise are not aware of the dissatisfaction alleged by the hon. Member. They believe that the method of allocation of the honorarium was on equitable lines, and generally speaking, in proportion to the importance and extent of the extra work performed. The claim of the distillery officers to share in the grant was fully considered, and such of their number as actually shared in the pressure of licence and pension work were awarded a share of the honorarium. I have no knowledge of the principle on which the members of the deputation referred to were selected.
National Insurance Bill
Approved Societies
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is proposed under the National Insurance Bill that the State shall have any voice in or veto upon the appointment of the staff of an approved society, or whether such appointments will be left to the society absolutely; whether the approved society will have complete control over its accumulated funds; and, if not, what are the proposed limitations?
The Bill gives the State no voice in the appointment of the staff of an approved society nor any veto upon such appointments. An approved society will retain complete control over its accumulated funds outside the National Scheme, but the accumulations derived from moneys contributed under the National Scheme can only be dealt with in the manner prescribed by the Bill. I may point out, however, that even in the latter case a considerable degree of freedom is given to the Society, and I have under consideration proposals for extending that freedom.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a person who is a member of more than one approved society under the National Insurance Bill will be able to choose the society through which he desires to receive the benefits under the Bill; and whether he will be permitted to continue his membership of other approved societies?
The answer to both portions of the question is in the affirmative.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state whether ho can provide that in the new Insurance Bill approved societies shall be valued every five years at the cost of the State?
I think the triennial valuation which is provided for by Clause 29, and which will be carried out at the cost of the State, is a more desirable arrangement at the initiation of a scheme of national insurance. The Bill gives the Insurance Commissioners power to appoint other times for valuation.
Homes And Refuges
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state whether it has been brought to his notice that under the new National Insurance Bill all homes and refuges will incur liability of about 26s. per inmate per annum, amounting at St. Thomas's Home, Basingstoke, alone to £84, and that in addition to this there are sixteen homes and refuges in the Winchester diocese only; and whether he can exempt homes and refuges from the Bill?
I will refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Baronet, the Member for Wandsworth, on 19th June.
Young Helpers To Workmen
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer who is to be considered the employer, for the purposes of the National Insurance Bill, when workmen engage young persons as helpers, as is common in some textile trades?
In such a case, by paragraph 5 of the Third Schedule, the workman's employer could be treated, under appropriate regulations, as the employer of the helper.
Suspensions Of Benefit
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Section 13 of the National Insurance Bill, which provides for fines and suspensions of benefit for cases of misconduct, is intended to cover persons who refuse to be vaccinated, even if ordered by a medical man; and, if such provisions are intended, whether he will so amend this section as to give every right to all those holding conscientious objections to vaccination?
The rights of all conscientious objectors will, of course, be safeguarded under the Bill.
Collector's Fees
asked the Chancellor whether, in view of the fact that, under the provisions of the National Insurance Bill the collection of the weekly payments from insured persons is to be conducted through the Post Office, he has considered the immediate effect on the large body of small collectors throughout the country to whose efforts the present satisfactory conditions of many of the friendly societies are due; and, seeing that their livelihood will be jeopardised by the passing of the Bill, whether he proposes to compensate them in any way for the loss of the amounts paid by many of them for the purchase of their collector's book?
The collectors are engaged almost exclusively on life insurance, which is excluded from the scope of the Bill. Moreover, as I understand, the industrial insurance and collecting societies contemplate setting up sickness sections, which will conform to the conditions of the Bill. The services of the collectors will undoubtedly be utilised largely as secretaries and visitors. The Bill will, therefore, ensure increased remuneration for them.
Reported Attack On Irish School House
asked the Chief Secretary if his attention has been drawn to a statement by the Rev. J. B. Shee, M.A., at a meeting of the Church Education Society held in Dublin on 28th April, that on the Tuesday night of the previous week the school (Protestant or Church mission school) was stoned from 10 o'clock for two hours and the occupants waiting with hatchets and razors behind the door; that on another occasion he himself had his coat torn off and he had had to fight; that last summer, whilst taking photographs, he was blackguarded first, and because he said to the man that he should not use such language he was hit across the face and about 50 people rushed upon him, and that he had a coat and a piece of his ear gone; and to his further statements calculated to blacken the character of his Catholic neighbours and attributing their conduct to the action of the Catholic clergymen of the district; and whether an inquiry, through the police or otherwise, will be instituted in order to ascertain the truth of these charges?
I have seen a newspaper report of the statement in question, and, judging by the laughter with which it appears to have been greeted by those present it can, I think, hardly have been intended to be taken seriously. The police have, however, made inquiries with regard to the matters referred to, and it would appear from their report that the highly-coloured account of an attack on the schoolhouse was based on a statement of a schoolteacher that she thought she heard stones thrown at her window. The Rev. Mr. Shee no doubt came to blows on one occasion with some rough fish-curers, but it appears to have been largely his own fault, and in no way due to the fact that he was a Protestant clergyman.
Hukson Estate, Maharees (Reinstatement Application)
asked whether the Estates Commissioners have inquired into the case of Mr. Jeremiah O'Connor, evicted tenant, on the Hukson estate, Maharees, Castlegregory; and, if so, what steps are proposed to be taken for his reinstatement?
The Estates Commissioners have inquired into this case, and have noted O'Connor's name for consideration in the allotment of any untenanted land acquired by them.
Old Age Pensions
asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Mrs. Johanna Curry, Pike Street, Thurles, county Tipperary, was refused a full pension of 5s. per week by the Local Government Board on appeal, and that Mrs. Curry is depending on her sister for her support; and whether he can state the reason which led the pension officer to report that her means entitled her to receive the reduced pension of 3s. per week?
An appeal has been lodged in the case of a woman named Johanna Curry against a decision of the Thurles pension sub-committee, but the Local Government Board have not yet received the papers in the case. If this is the case referred to by the hon. Member the sub-committee themselves allowed a pension of three shillings only in the first instance.
asked the grounds upon which the Templemore sub-committee disallowed the claim of James Guilfoyle, Lisheen, Templemore, county Tipperary, to an old age pension, seeing that James Guilfoyle assigned his small farm to his son by deed in 1908, subject to an annuity of £12 per annum payable quarterly; and how the pension officer determined that Guilfoyle's means did not entitle him to an old age pension?
I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 15th March last. This case was determined by the Local Government Board, and the assignment referred to was made in December, 1909.
asked why the Local Government, Board decided that Patrick Dempsey, Barrack Street, Templemore, county Tipperary, is not entitled to a pension; upon what evidence the pension officer decided that Patrick Dempsey was not the statutory age; whether the principal residents of Templemore, including some persons over seventy years, have signed a memorial stating he is over seventy years; and whether the pension officer can produce any evidence from register, Census returns, or otherwise to prove he is over the statutory age?
Patrick Dempsey did not know the date of his birth and his age could not be found in either the baptismal register or the Census returns. He was unable to furnish any evidence beyond the statements of some residents in Templemore that they believed him to be over seventy years of age. The Local Government Board, therefore, disallowed the claim on the ground that Dempsey had failed to show that he fulfilled the statutory condition as to age. The onus rests upon a claimant to a pension of showing that he had reached the age of seventy years.
asked the reasons upon which the Local Government Board have refused to grant an old age pension to William O'Brien, Turraheen, Rossmore, county Tipperary; whether the Cashel, county Tipperary, sub-committee granted him a pension, as the sub-committee consider he is over the statutory age; whether he will advise the Local Government Board to accept the certificate of the parish priest or the sworn declarations of persons in the locality, who know him to be over seventy years, seeing that the baptismal registry, Castleconnell, county Limerick (the church in which he was baptised), is missing or has been destroyed?
The Local Government Board disallowed William O'Brien's claim on the ground that he had failed to show that he fulfilled the statutory condition as to age. He furnished no evidence of age and could not be traced in the Census returns. The only certificate received by the Board from the parish priest was to the effect that the parochial records were destroyed by fire some years ago.