This Act shall not affect the rights or claims of any sanitary inspector or other officer appointed under this Act to any pension or gratuity to which a sanitary inspector or other officer shall have been entitled prior to the coming into operation of this Act and a sanitary inspector or other officer shall be deemed to have been appointed under this Act and all rights and claims to such pension or gratuity shall be preserved and settled in accordance with the provisions of any enactment regulating the same.