In the House of Commons on Tuesday members ol all
parties except the Labour men strongly objected to a Supplementary Estimate giving retired Civil servants pensions calculated on their War bonus as _well as on their salary. . Mr. Hilten.Young, for the Treasury, made a skilful defence of the proposal, though he had to admit that Civil servants received proportionately higher pensions than naval officers. Despite the support of the- Labour members, who almost invariably vote for higher expendi- ture, Mr. Hilton Young had in the end to promise that future pensions should, if possible, vary with the cost of living by periodical reassessments. The amount involved- was relatively small, but the debate was a welcome reassertion of the right of the House to criticize Government expenditure. Failing such criticism, the Geddes Report will achieve little in the way of economy.
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