PENSIONS 



33 



the consular, diplomatic, and colonial services. 

 The number of these pensioners in 1889-90 was 

 3258, and the grants for them are in the esti- 

 mates classed among ' Non-effective and charitahle 

 Ren-ices.' The pensions granted from the Civil 

 List (q.v.) are altogether on a different footing 

 from those in the civil service, which last are part 

 of the condition of employment, and are thus 

 somewhat in the nature of deferred pay. Of the 

 name nature is the retired pay of army and navy 

 officers, as well as the service-pensions to soldiers 

 and seamen. Pensions to the widows and children 

 of deceased servants of the state are often granted 

 under the term of ' compassionate allowances. ' The 

 enormous character of the burden of the non-effec- 

 tive services has given occasion for much discus- 

 sion, and has called forth many suggestions. Thus, 

 in the session of 1888 a motion was carried in the 

 House of Commons, the effect of which is to restrict 

 the system of compulsory retirement on pension 

 of civil servants. The principle has IKHMI laid down 

 that officials no longer required in their own 

 departments who are still able and willing to ren- 

 der service for the public money should l>e pro- 

 vided with employment in other departments, 

 instead of l>eing forced to become useless burdens 

 upon the country. Perpetual pensions must be re- 

 yarded as somewhat of an abuse of the principle 

 upon which a state rewards good and faithful 

 servants. The matter liecame the subject of 

 a parliamentary inquiry on the initiation of Mr 

 Bradlaiigh in 1887. A select committee was 

 appointed, which, after taking evidence of a 

 minus and interesting kind, recommended that 

 no more pensions or allowances should be granted 

 in i>rpetuit\. Tiiis committee also reported in 

 favour of the- abolition of all sinecure offices with 

 salaries but no duties, and recommended that all 

 existing perpetual pensions, allowances, and pay- 

 ments, and all hereditary offices, should l>e deter- 

 mined and abolished. In commuting such )>ensions 

 it has len laid down as necessary to differentiate 

 cases of grants for actual services by the original 

 grantees, and cases of mere gratuity. Where no 

 .-ervic or merely nominal service was rendered 

 either by the present holder or the original grantee 

 it was proposed that the payment should in no 

 <-a.se continue l*>yi>nd the life of the present holder. 

 In former r. Humiliations of perpetual pensions a 

 wale of twenty-seven years' purchase was usually 

 adopted. On or about this scale there were, lie- 

 tween 1881 and 1S87, 330 pensions ami allowances 

 of the annual value of 18,957 commuted for a sum 

 total of .V27,fl33. The rate was reported to l>e too 

 high, and in the session of 1H88 a motion was 

 passed for giving effect to the recommendation of 

 the select committee, and for a return in detail of 

 all outstanding hereditary pensions and the cir- 

 cumstances in which they were granted. Pensions 

 such as those of 4000 per annum to the Duke of 

 MarllHirough, and of t'5000 to Lord Nelson, and to 

 i heir heirs in perpetuity, are, of course, well under- 

 stood OH in return for ' value received ' in sj>ecial 

 -'rvices to the state. The objection to the prin- 

 ijile of them is that it is a burdening of posterity 

 with payment for services rendered to one genera- 

 tion. The rewards for distinguished services should 

 1>" defrayed by the generation receiving the benefit 

 of them, and should be conferred upon the persons 

 who actually render them, either in the form of a 

 <-aiiital sum down, or of a life-pension only. 



There are, again, a number of hereditary pensions 

 eon furred not for services, but as no/fit i urn for the 

 loss of the fees of abolished offices. Thus, when the 

 offices uf ('using Brevium and Clerk of the.lmi"-- 

 were abolished in 1837 the holders were compensated 

 with hereditary pensions of 786 each. These 

 were commuted on a basis of twenty-seven years' 

 387 



purchase. One of the numerous perquisites con- 

 ferred by Charles II. on his illegitimate son, the 

 Duke of Grafton, was that of Officer of the Pipe, 

 or Remembrancer of First Fruits and Tenths of the 

 Clergy in the Court of Exchequer. This office was 

 sold by the duke in 1765, and when the fees were 

 abolished the holder was compensated with a per- 

 petual pension of 62, 9s. 8d. A still more remark- 

 able case was that of the hereditary office of Master 

 of the Hawks, granted by James' II. to the Duke 

 of St Alhans and his heirs for ever. The emolu- 

 ments consisted of 391, Is. 3d. as salary, 200 for 

 four falconers, 600 for provision of hawks, and 

 182, 10s. for other provisions together, 1373, 

 11s. 3d. This total was subsequently reduced to 

 965, at which it stood until commuted, in 1891, 

 for 18,335, although there had been neither hawks 

 nor falconers for many generations. A pension of 

 4000 per annum granted in 1779 to William Penn, 

 the founder of Pennsylvania, and his heirs for ever, 

 was in 1884 commuted for a ten years' annuity of 

 12,796, considered equivalent to twenty-seven 

 years' purchase. In 1676 Charles II. granted to the 

 Duke of Richmond and his heirs for ever a duty of 

 one shilling per ton on all coals exported from the 

 Tyne for consumption in England. One hundred 

 years later that charge was converted into a per- 

 petual pension of 19,000 (chargeable on the Con- 

 solidated Fund), which, again, was afterwards re- 

 deemed for 633,333, and invested in lands settled 

 upon the duke ami his heirs. The Duke of Hamil- 

 ton, as Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood, has an 

 hereditary pension of 45, 10s., and the descendants 

 of the Heritable Usher of Scotland enjoy one of 242, 

 15s. These are a few of the examples of a wholly 

 indefensible system. There are also limited heredi- 

 tary pensions granted for a certain number of lives, 

 which are not so unjustifiable, as, for instance, the 

 pension of 4000 to the Duke of Wellington and two 

 successors, and the pension of 2000 to Lord Napier 

 of Magdala and one successor. In 1N01 there were 

 eight of these limited hereditary pensions in exist- 

 ence (viz. Lords Comliermere, (tough, Hardinge, 

 Keane, Napier, Uaglnn, Seat on, and the Duke of Wel- 

 lington), most of which were in the possession of 

 the last holder. It is probable that this system 

 of reward for military services will also be discon- 

 tinued. Pensions, but for life only, may l>e claimed 

 by ministers who have held office under the crown 

 (not necessarily continuously) for four years in the 

 first class (2000), six years in the second class 

 (1200), or ten years in the third class (800). 

 The following is a summary of the total amount 

 paid by Great Britain in pensions, superannua- 

 tions, and compassionate allowances : we take the 

 figures for the fiscal year 1887-88, because that 

 period coincides with the movement to terminate 

 perpetual pensions : 



!.......... N "- ot Amount ol 



Peiutonen. Paymentn. 



CivilService 3,164 467,582 



Anny.. 97,004 3,789,282 



Navy 38,366 2,040,659 



1'enx-tual and Civil Lint 1,072 431,608 



Departmental 18,886 1,086,444 



Total 156,492 7,815,575 



Tn round numbers the present outlay of the 

 government of the United Kingdom in pensions 

 ami superannuations is 7J millions per annum, 

 of which quite 5J millions go to the army and 

 navy, and form a proper item in the cost of the 

 national defence, although probably capable of 

 better distribution. It is an open question how 

 far the remaining 2 millions may be wisely ex- 

 pended, but for hereditary allowances the national 

 accounts will not incur fresh charges, and exist- 

 ing charges are being equitably extinguished. 

 On the Indian List there are set down 10,500 



