§ 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.