Part of Orders of the Day — Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill. – in the House of Commons am ar 2 Awst 1922.
I see what the complaint is. The hon. Member says that there have been refusals. What sort of tribunal would it be if there were no refusals? It means that if anybody applies for anything he is to get it. We do not shelter ourselves behind the tribunals. They are not a body of our creation. They were set up by the House of Commons over us, and by their decision we are bound. In large numbers of cases pensions are granted by those tribunals, and we have to pay whether we agree with the findings of the tribunal or not, and their decisions are final. The hon. Member says that everybody is getting so disgusted with the tribunals that his constituents will not go to them. With a number of ex-service men and others we went into this whole question some time ago, and so far from the tribunals being less used than before the increase in the number of cases a year or nine months ago was so great that we had to increase the number from 12 to 24 in order to do the work.