Power to Treasury to make regulations. Penalty of persons making false declarations. Deduction pensionholder takes office. The Treasury may from time to time make, alter, or revoke regulations as to the following matters: (1.) The rules according to which applications for commu- 34 & 35 Vie (2.) The tables according to which the duration of life of (3.) The terms upon which pensions are to be commuted, If any applicant for commutation wilfully make any false Ibid, sec. 9. If any pensionholder, whose pension has been commuted Ibid, sec. 10 from salary to (except a half-pay officer retired under the Army Regulation be made where Act, 1871, sec. 3), accepts any public employment, a deduction shall be made from the salary payable to him in respect of such employment equal to the amount which would have been abated from the pension if it had not been commuted; and in the event of his becoming entitled to a pension in respect of such employment, the amount of such pension granted to him shall not exceed the amount which he might have received had his pension not been so commuted. All pensions for disabled soldiers to be under the XXIV. Pensions to Soldiers." The payment of all pensions, allowances, and relief to be 7 Geo. 4, c. granted to disabled, invalid, and discharged soldiers, shall be s. 3. management under the management, control, authority, and direction of the of the Com- Chelsea Commissioners. missioners of Chelsea Hos pital. Soldiers en titled to pension to have the benefit of regulations and orders in time of cases. 7 H.D. Every soldier who shall become entitled to his discharge by Ibid, sec. reason of the expiration of any period of service fixed in any orders and regulations made in that behalf, or shall have been discharged by reason of being an invalid, or disabled, or having been wounded, shall thereupon be entitled to receive such pension, allowance, or relief, as shall have been fixed in any orders or regulations made in relation to such cases respectively, and in force at the time of bis enlistment, and for the payment whereof money shall have been voted by Parliament. 1 39 & 40 Viet., e. 73. s. 2. 2 The History of Soldiers' Pensions, vol. 1, p. 366, and vol. 2, p. 278; and see pp. 37-46, ante. The payment of out-pensions was transferred to the Secretary at War by 9 Vict., c. 10. 7 Geo. IV., Chelsea Hos The said Commissioners, upon complaint and proof to their Commisc. 16, sec. 13. satisfaction being made to them of any fraud with respect to the sioners of claiming, obtaining, or receiving of any pension or other money, pital emor of other gross misconduct attempted or practised by any powered, in person being a pensioner, entitled or claiming to be a pensioner, case of frauds to suspend or take away the pension, or altogether reject, object or misconduct, to, or refuse the title or claim to pension of the person so offending, and to issue to the paymaster a notice in writing, pensions. under the hand of the secretary, of any pension being so suspended or taken away, and upon the said notice being issued to the said paymaster, he shall suspend the payment of the pension according to the tenor of the said notice. Ibid, sec. 17.1 Ibid, sec. 21. Ibid, sec. 23. [bid. sec. 26. 9 Vict., c. 15, 7. bid, sec. 8. to take away or refuse natives of The said Commissioners may give to any soldier, not being Soldiers, not a native of the United Kingdom, discharged and entitled to any Great Britain, out-pension or allowance by reason of service, or having become in certain invalided or disabled, and desirous of living out of England, cases may who may be recommended for that purpose by the Secretary of State, such sum of money in gross in lieu of such annual muted for a pension or allowance as may be directed by the said Secretary sum certain with the approbation of the Treasury. have their outpensions com by order of His Majesty. pital em The said Commissioners upon an application made to them Commisby any person claiming on account of service in Her Majesty's sioners of Army may give a pension to such person in their discretion, Chelsea Hosaccording to length of service, allowing in the appointment powered to of such pension all such time as the said person shall have give pensions served (previously to his entering into Her Majesty's army) according to either as a petty officer, seaman, or landman in Her Majesty's length of service in army fleet, or as a non-commissioned officer or private marine. and navy. residence. Every pensioner resident in Great Britain or Ireland shall, as Notice by often as he shall change his place of abode, give notice thereof pensioners of to the said Commissioners at Chelsea; and in case, for want of change of any such notice, any loss happen by reason of any remittance or order being sent for any pension to the place from which such pensioner shall have removed without giving such notice, and to which place his pension shall have been remitted, such loss shall fall upon and be borne and sustained by such pensioner so making default in this behalf. All assignments, bargains, sales, orders, contracts, agree- Assignment of ments, or securities whatsoever, which shall be given or made pensions void. by any person entitled to any pension, allowance, or relief, as aforesaid, for the transfer of such pension, allowance, or relief, or to give or assign any interest therein, or for, upon, or in respect of any such his pension, allowance, or relief, shall be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes. With the consent of a pensioner residing temporarily out of Pensions may be paid to the the United Kingdom, to pay to or for the benefit of his wife, or, wives and if he have no wife, to or for the benefit of his child or children, children of such portion of his pension as may be agreed upon. pensioners out of the United Kindom. If any pensioner shall be relieved, or become chargeable in Repayment to Great Britain or Ireland in respect of relief afforded to himself, parishes of 1 See p. 38, ante. out-pensioners. any case relief given to or to any person whom he is liable to maintain, or if in As to care of lunatic pensioners. Arrears of pensions under 1001. may be paid to personal representa sec. 9. In case any pensioner shall be or become insane, it shall be 19 Vict., c. 15 lawful for the Secretary of State for the time being, upon being satisfied of such insanity, to order that the pension of such insane pensioner, or so much thereof as shall appear to the said Secretary to be necessary for his care and maintenance, shall be paid to such guardians of the poor or overseers, or heritors and kirk session, or to the wife, child, or any other person to whom the care of such insane pensioner may be entrusted, or who may be chargeable for or liable to the expense of his care and maintenance; and the receipt of the person or persons to whom the same shall be so paid shall be a sufficient voucher and discharge for so much money as shall appear to have been paid thereon: Provided always, that where no claim or demand shall be made for the support of any such insane pensioner, or where the charge for his care and maintenance does not amount to the full rate of his pension, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State, at his discretion, to order his pension, or so much thereof as may not be necessary for his care and maintenance as aforesaid, to be paid to his wife or child or children, if he have any. The Secretary of State may pay or authorize the proper Ibid, sec. 10. officer to pay to any person or persons who shall prove him, her, or themselves, to the satisfaction of such Secretary of State or of the said proper officer, to be the next of kin or legal representative of or otherwise legally entitled to any pension money tives without due to any deceased pensioner, the amount of such pension letters of ad- money, not exceeding 1007., although such person or persons ministration. shall not have taken out letters of administration or have procured probate of any will of such deceased pensioner. probate or 131 & 32 Vict., c. 90, sect. 2. 5 & 6 Vict., c. 55, s. 20. 85, s 12. C. XXV. Carriage of Troops, with their Baggage and Stores, by Railway. The statute law is in substance as follows:-1 Whenever it shall be necessary to move any of the officers or soldiers of the Line, Ordnance, Marines, or Militia by any 7 & 8 Vict., c. railway, the directors are bound to permit such forces, with their baggage, stores, ammunition, and other necessaries and things, to be conveyed at the usual hours on the production of a signed route or order for their conveyance, and to provide such conveyance at fares not exceeding 2d. per mile for each commissioned officer proceeding on duty in a first-class carriage and not exceeding 1d. a mile for each soldier, marine, or private of the Militia, and for each wife, widow, or child of a soldier entitled to be sent to their destination at the public expense (children under three years of age being sent free, and under 12 at half price of an adult), in carriages provided with seats, with reasonable accommodation and protected against weather, with their personal luggage, not exceeding 1 cwt. for an officer, and 56 lbs. for every other adult, all excess of weight being paid for at the rate of not more than d. a lb. All public baggage, stores, arms, ammunition, and other necessaries and things (except gunpowder and other combustible stores, which can only be carried by agreement) are to be conveyed by the directors at charges not exceeding 2d. per ton, the assistance of the military or other forces being given in loading and unloading such goods. Upon the construction of these statutory provisions the Law Officers of the Crown have from time to time been consulted, and have advised as follows: In the first case, submitted in December 1847 by the Board of Trade, a railway company sought to exclude "express" trains from those by which they were bound to convey troops, &c., and the Board was advised that "all trains starting at times fixed by the time-table" were included. The "limited mails" are excluded by agreement. It was submitted whether a private soldier, with surveying instruments weighing less than half cwt. was properly chargeable for them as for a quarter of a ton of public baggage, the company's special Act enabling them to charge a fraction as a quarter of a ton, and the Board was advised that, notwithstanding the special Act, the company could not charge for a quarter of a ton, but might charge for the fraction conveyed, a proportional fraction of the 2d. mentioned above. 1 5 & 6 Vict., c. 55, sect. 20, and 7 & 8 Vict., c. 85, sect. 12; 16 and 17 Vict., c. 69. sec. 18, extending Law to Naval Forces. In the second case, 1st July 1859, an officer travelling on duty at 2d. a mile claimed to carry his furniture as "personal luggage" (or, at all events, as "public luggage"), but the War Department was advised that "household furniture" was not "personal luggage," and that the company could rightfully charge for it at ordinary rates; and further, that such furniture would not come under the term "public baggage." The third case, 3rd August 1859, was raised upon the same facts, and the law officers advised that the company must carry for the d. per lb. after the 1 cwt. free, any amount of personal baggage which the War Department by its regulations allowed an officer to take at the public cost. They also held that whatever was carried at the public cost (as the allowed private furniture, clothing, &c., of an officer) was public baggage within the meaning of the section, and, if put by order of the proper military authority on the railway, must so be carried by the company at 2d. per ton per mile. In the fourth case, 11th May 1861, an army schoolmaster, entitled under War Office regulations to the carriage of four cwt. at the public cost, carried that quantity (of books, &c.), and was obliged by a railway company (the military not attending to load or unload) to pay for such four cwt. at ordinary rates. The law officers advised that the four cwt. were public baggage, within the meaning of the section, and should have been carried for 2d. per ton per mile, and they attached no importance to the absence of "assistance of the military" at the loading and unloading of the goods. 66 The fifth case, 17th April 1862, was one in which an officer had sent his luggage and furniture by luggage-train, and the company insisted upon ordinary rates, assigning as reasons that they had had no previous intimation that the goods were public baggage," and that they were not "public baggage," as the officer was not travelling in charge of troops, and there was no military assistance in loading and unloading. For the first of these reasons the department was advised not to sue for the overcharge. In the sixth case, 5th July 1862, where the troops marched by road, and the railway company refused to carry the regimental baggage for the 2d. per ton, it was held that the War Department could only insist on the above rate when the railway company was paid for the conveynnce of the troops to whom the goods belonged or were entrusted, or for a portion of such troops, the law being substantially confined to cases in which troops are being moved. In the seventh case, 23rd September 1870, it was suggested that, as on some railways, ordinary fares were lower for passengers, but higher for goods than the statutory charges, the War Department might send any proportion of a regiment at the ordinary rate, and the residue at the statutory rate, with the whole baggage of the regiment at 2d. a ton, but the law officers |