asked the Minister of Pensions on what grounds Captain Hugh McLaren Paton, late officer in His Majesty's Regular Army, serving with the Cheshire Regiment, and now residing at 20, Fontaine Road, Streatham, S.W.16, is denied the right to any pension or gratuity for 11 years, 111 days' uncommissioned service; and what steps, if any, he is prepared to take to remedy this injustice?

I have been asked to reply. As the answer is rather long, I will, with the hon. and gallant Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

Captain Paton, on retirement, was entitled by Royal Warrant to receive the benefits of one or other, but not both, of two alternative Regulations. Under the one he was entitled to a fixed gratuity of £450, and under the other to a cumulative gratuity calculated at the rate of £100 a year for each year of commissioned service. In either case he was further entitled to a payment of £800 as compensation for compulsory retirement. The fixed gratuity of £450 is applicable only to officers retiring with previous service in the ranks. The other gratuity is not affected by previous service in the ranks, but in Captain Paton's case it was, nevertheless, the more favourable, since it amounted to £700 as against £450. He received the larger sum accordingly, together with the £800, that is, £1,500 in all. An officer is obviously not entitled to benefit by the combination in his favour of two different and alternative Regulations, and I cannot admit that any injustice whatever has occurred.