asked the Minister of Defence the total annual sum required in order to restore to all ex-officers of the Forces, whose retired pay was stabilized in 1935 at 9½ per cent. below the basic rates of 1919, the amounts by which their retired pay, after the coming into force of the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1944, and of the Pensions (Increase) Bill now before Parliament, will still fall short of the basic rates of 1919.