SHILLING A DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 638, 15 April 1929, Page 12

SHILLING A DAY

NIGGARDLY PENSION FOR OLD SOLDIER

AFTER 1 7 'i EARS’ SERVICE Badly injured in the Boer War ij, thrice invalided from the army, in course of the Great War, after servit in three different units. ex-Sergej,: Richord Dutton, of Birmingham. h as never been able to secure any highepension than Is a day. This has betawarded under tfL hopelessly old fashioned and niggardly 1914 warran •Since 1 came home from the Grej War.” says Dutton, “l have been cot. tinuously on the sick list, except for a few weeks at a time, t am now js y ears of age. and find u difficult to get employment of a light nature. » r ,, it is hard, indeed, to have nothing; look forward to after 17J years’ se: vice.’ Sergeant Dutton had two. brothers Charles and George, serving in his oij regiment, the South Staffordshire, when the "Old Coutemptibles” wer, making history on the Western ire;: Charles was commended for his ga' lantry during the retreat from Moss and was rewarded with a commissioc Later, he was captain in the South Staffords at the same lime as ho brother George was regimental-se, geant-major. Charles was afterwart killed: George has since risen to cap tain’s rank himself. Rundle’s Greyhounds’* Richard Dutton enlisted first in the South Staffordshires just 40 yeargjg, and served in Ireland, Egypt and South Africa, serving in the Boer Wawith Sir Leslie Rundle’s famou-: "Hungry Eighth” Division arontt Senekal, Ficksburg and Bethleheir These were the operations that resulted in the capture of General Pm sloo and 4,150 Boers. ! “While I was with 'Rundle’s Grey | hounds.* as w-e were sometimes | called,” says Dutton, “I marched ant : a time 30 miles a day on short ration; —for example, we had only half j pound of flour a day for 16 days, and this we used to fry, with the addition of a little fat and water, in our caatees lids. I had my putties tied round my feet in place of boots, and mj clothing was in rags. Toward the end I was thrown from a horse and dis abled with synovitis of the knee and chronic rheumatism.”

Dutton, served in all 13 years in his first period, and re-enlisted on November 6, 1914. During the war lie served in his old regiment, the Unitary Provost Staff Corps, and the Royal Marine Labour Corps. His character ou three of his discharge certif cates is certified as “Very good.’’ He had already the two South Africa! medals and two clasps, and he earned for the Great War the British lfa: and Victory Medals.

“I did not ask for anything whea discharged,” says Dutton, “as I had a business to return to, but I soot became ill and my business went, aid on applying for pension for synoviti; and rheumatism, I was awarded 7s week. This was given to me withoi •a board being held. “I applied for medical trcalmer, got a board, and they stated that my disability was not due to the Gres War, but to the South Africa War and, as the seven years’ limit had elapsed. I could not claim anythin; further.”

On November 12 last he was iJformed by tbe Ministry that his dir location of a cartilage of his rigir knee was the only disability whit had been accepted as due to his Boer War service, and that it wa3 impoi sible to regard the condition of hhip, knee and shoulder joints, as recovered at a medical examination, a : being in any way due to the old prewar disability. In consequence, Dutton, like man another gallant veteran, fell bet*« two stools. The existence of his tar ous disabilities was not denied, but:: rheumatic condition could not be o. ciallv associated with the Boer wdisability so as to raise Dnttoi assessment for the latter to the a, propriate degree, and no fresh appLtiou could be considered in respect Great War disability because of t!seven years’ time limit! n . a .?f !t 1 he has been adjudged ineligible medical treatment. . So after fighting in two ounpaKin the course of’iover 17 years se and disabled in both, Dutton > s . , face life, a wreck, on seven sbillita week. Is there not pressing: "T : for a fresh warrant to cover grie ■ hard cases of this kind?