Section 218. Pension examining boards

1. The chief of staff shall appoint
  a pension examining board of three officers, at least one of whom  shall
  be  a medical officer, to inquire into the merits of any claim presented
  under section two hundred seventeen of this chapter and to recommend the
  amount or amounts, if any, to be paid or allowed under the provisions of
  said section.  If no medical officer is available, the  medical  officer
  on such board may be a civilian physician, surgeon or dentist.
    2.  A pension examining board appointed pursuant to this section shall
  have the same power to take evidence, administer oaths, issue  subpoenas
  and  compel  witnesses  to  attend  and testify and to produce books and
  papers and to punish for failure to do so as is  possessed  by  military
  courts.
    3.  The  finding  and  recommendations  of the pension examining board
  shall be submitted to the chief of staff, who may return the proceedings
  to such board for reconsideration or for taking  further  testimony  and
  who shall approve or disapprove the claim and fix the amount, if any, to
  be  paid or allowed under section two hundred seventeen of this chapter.
  The amount so fixed by the chief of staff shall be a charge against  and
  be paid in the manner provided by this chapter, by the county or city in
  which such duty was rendered, in every case where a county or city is by
  this  chapter  made  liable to pay for the performance of military duty.
  In all other cases, such amount shall be  paid  by  the  state  in  like
  manner as other military accounts are paid.
    4.  The chief of staff, with the approval of the governor and with the
  consent of the applicant, may commute any pension or reward  by  payment
  of  a  lump  sum to be accepted by the applicant in full satisfaction of
  all claims under section two hundred seventeen of this chapter.