asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is in a position to make a statement with regard to ex-service men occupying the status of pauper lunatics; and whether he can inform the House the additional cost that would fall upon this country if pensions were granted to them as to other ex-service men mentally afflicted?

All men suffering from disabilities, whether mental or not, due to or remaining worsened lay service are admitted to the full benefits of the Royal Warrant. But, as I have already stated, I am not in a position to recommend that an exception should be made in favour of any particular disability which would authorise my Department to accept responsibility for men suffering from a condition not connected with their war service.

May I inquire as to the amount of the cost to the country of treating men who have served in the Army and are discharged as mentally unfit and confined as paupers?

The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The asylums to which these men are sent are the ordinary county asylums. It is not a question of economy, but the House has always laid down the principle that pensions should only be paid for disabilities that are attributed to the War.

Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate the importance of status so far as these men are concerned, and the question on what Department, national or local, the expenditure falls?

May I ask whether the Minister of Pensions realises that many of these men are suffering from insanity which was latent prior to the War, and developed owing to hardships endured during the War, and ought they not to be treated accordingly?

My hon. Friend is quite right. If a man was mentally unfit to some extent before the War, and is made worse by the War, he is fully compensated by grant of pension.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many ex-service men suffering from mental disability have been discharged from maintenance by his Department and transferred to the care of Poor Law or other local authorities?

The number of men whose mental condition could not be regarded as in any way due to or worsened by service, but who had benefited by the temporary concession in their favour which came to an end some 18 months ago, is 771.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a case is at present being fought out between the Poplar Guardians and the Brentford Asylum authorities in connection with a man who fought in the Boer War and then enlisted in the Great War, and became mentally afflicted, and that this is one of the men he has transferred from national funds to pauper funds?

I am not aware of the facts of the particular case, but if the hon. Member will give them to me, I will be happy to inquire. If the hon. Gentleman wanted to know in this question about this case, it would have been better to put it in the question, and not to have raised it in a supplemenary one.

I do not at all complain that the right hon. Gentleman does not remember, but is he aware that the brokers are in at the Poplar Board of Guardians for the maintenance of this man, and we do not intend to pay it?