7. (1) The Secretary of State shall be the President of the Council of India, with power to vote.

(2) The Secretary of State in Council may appoint any member of the Council to be Vice-President thereof, and the Secretary of State may at any time remove any person so appointed.

(3) At every meeting of the Council the Secretary of State, or in his absence the Vice-President, if present, or in the absence of both of them, one of the members of the Council, chosen by the members present at the meeting, shall preside.

8. Meetings of the Council of India shall be convened and held as and when the Secretary of State directs, but one such meeting at least shall be held in every month,

9. (1) At any meeting of the Council of India at which the Secretary of State is present, if there is a difference of opinion on any question, except a question with respect to which a majority of votes at the meeting is by this Act declared to be necessary, the determination of the Secretary of State shall be final.

(2) In case of an equality of votes at any meeting of the Council, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

(3) All acts done at the meeting of the Council in the absence of the Secretary of State shall require the approval in writing of the Secretary of State.

(4) In case of difference of opinion on any question decided at a meeting of the Council, the Secretary of State may require that his opinion and the reasons for it be entered in the minutes of the proceedings, and any member of the Council, who has been present at the meeting, may require that his opinion and any reasons for it that he has stated at the meeting, be also entered in like

manner.

10. The Secretary of State may constitute committees of the Council of India for the more convenient transaction of business, and direct what departments of business are to be under those committees respectively, and generally direct the manner in which the business of the Secretary of State in Council or the Council of India shall be transacted, and any order made or act done in accordance with such direction shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be treated as being an order of the Secretary of State in Council.

11. Subject to the provisions of this Act the procedure for sending of orders and communications to India, and in general for correspondence between the Secretary of State and the Governor-General in Council or any local government shall be such as may be prescribed by order of the Secretary of State in Council.

15. When any order is sent to India directing the actual commencement of hostilities by His Majesty's forces in India, the fact of the order having been sent shall, unless the order has in the meantime been revoked or suspended, be communicated to both Houses of Parliament within three months after the sending of the order, or, if Parliament is not sitting at the expiration of those three months, then within one month after the next sitting of Parliament. 16. Omitted.

17. (1) No addition may be made to the establishment of the Secretary of State in Council, nor to the salaries of persons on that establishment, except by an Order of His Majesty in Council, to be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days after the making thereof, or, if Parliament is not then sitting, then within fourteen days after the next meeting of Parliament.

(2) The rules made by His Majesty for examinations, certificates, probation or other tests of fitness, in relation to appointments to junior situations in the civil service, shall apply to such appointments on the said establishment.

(3) The Secretary of State in Council may, subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, make all appointments to and promotions in the said establishment, and may remove any officer or servant belonging to the establishment.

18. His Majesty may, by warrant under the Royal Sign Manual, countersigned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, grant to any secretary, officer, or servant appointed on the establishment of the Secretary of State in Council, such compensation, superannuation or retiring allowance, or to his legal personal representative such gratuity, as may respectively be granted to persons on the establishment of a Secretary of State, or to the personal representative of such persons, under the laws for the time being in force concerning superan nuation and other allowances to persons having held civil offices in public service or to personal representatives of such persons.

19. In the appointment of officers to His Majesty's army the same provision as heretofore, or equal provision, shall be made for the appointment of sons of persons who have served in India in the military or civil service of the Crown or the East India Company.

19. A. The Secretary of State in Council may, notwithstanding anything in this Act, by rule regulate and restrict the exercise of the powers of superin

tendence, direction and control, vested in the Secretary of State and the Secretary of State in Council by this Act, or other wise, insuch manner as may appear necessary or expedient in order to give effect to the purposes of the Government of India. Act, 1919.

Before any rules are made under this section relating to subjects other than transferred subjects, the rules proposed to be made shall be laid in draft before both Houses of Parliament, and such rules shall not be made unless both Houses by resolution approve the draft either without modification or addition, or with modifications or additions to which both Houses agree, but upon such approval being given, the Secretary of State in Council may make such rules in the form in which they have been approved, and such rules on being so made shall be of full force and effect.

Any rules relating to transferred subjects made under this section shall be laid before both Houses Parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and if an address is presented to His Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next thirty days on which that House has sat after the rules are laid before it praying that the rules or any of them may be annulled, His Majesty in Council may annul the rules or any of them, and those rules shall thenceforth be void but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

The Secretary of State for India is the direct descendant of the Board of Control, and in matters relating to India has all the powers of the Board of Control, the Court of Directors, their Secret Committee and the Court of Proprietors. He is the constitutional adviser of the Crown in all questions relating to India, and has the power of giving orders to every officer of the Crown in India, including the Governor-General. In the rare cases, however, when His Majesty, the King-Emperor, is present in India in person, the Secretary of State is his sole constitutional adviser. The Viceroy in those circumstances is only the Governor-General; but his intimate knowledge of Indian problems entitles him to become the immediate adviser of the King more even than the Secretary of State.

We might quote an example from modern history. When the King-Emperor, by a Royal Proclamation, ordered the repeal of the Partition of Bengal, on his visit to India in 1911, he was acting more under the influence of the GovernorGeneral than on the advice of his Secretary of State, who was consulted at a later stage.

The Secretary of State for India is appointed, like the other Secretaries of State in England, by the delivery of the Seals of office. In passing it may be noticed, as a curiosity of the English constitution, that the office of the Secretary of State is a unit in the theory of the constitutional law of England, though there are really five Secretaries of State. Hence in speaking rather abruptly in S. I. of the Secretary of State, the Act does not in any way further specify or describe him, since any Secretary of State is theoretically capable of discharging the duties of any other. Such division of work as there is in the English Secretariat is solely for the sake of administrative convenience, and has no reference to any corresponding distinction in point of law. The Secretary of State for India, however, enjoys powers and position not exactly identical with those of his colleagues. In certain matters relating to his department, he is not the absolute master like other Secretaries of State; he must act in consultation with his Council. But on the other hand his salary was, until 1919, paid not out of the revenues of England, but out of those of India, which made him enjoy almost unrestricted freedom, because Parliament, not entitled to vote his salary, scarcely concerned itself with his actions. Recently, however, by the Government of India Act 1919 to be precise, it has been provided that his salary shall be paid out of the moneys provided by Parliament, and the salaries of his UnderSecretary and any other expenses of his department may be paid out of the revenues of India or out of moneys provided by the Parliament. This is a most noteworthy and welcome change. Upto now the debates in Parliament on Indian

questions had been as scanty in attendance of members as they were barren in results. Owing to the vast mass of business nearer home, and the ignorance of its members on Indian questions, Parliament had given so far the fullest latitude to the Secretary of State in the administration of India. But now since it will have to vote his salary and part of the expenses of his department, we may reasonably expect the British Parliament to take a keener interest in Indian affairs. Parliament appoints at the beginning of each session a standing committee on Indian affairs, with members from either House, which will thus keep the supreme Imperial Legislature amply supplied with information on Indian questions which the members may employ to advantage at the annual debate. One point might be emphasised here. If the standing committee is properly to discharge its functions of a grand inquest, it must have access to any papers and documents it desires to see, and power to examine any officer including the Secretary of State himself. The first Joint Standing Committee on Indian affairs was set up by Parliament in 1921 consisting of nine members from each house. The experiment is still in its earliest stage, and therefore it is premature to speculate on the advantages accuring from the proper development of such a body.

All the charges in connection with the India Office expenses had, upto recently, been paid out of the Indian Treasury. By the Government of India Act, 1919, however, they have been divided under two heads. The agency business and the commercial transactions undertaken by the India Office on behalf of the Government of India, have been separated from the political charges. The former are to be handed over to a High Commissioner for India appointed under S. 29 A by His Majesty by an Order in Council. As at present arranged, the High Commissioner is to be an officer of the Government of India, under their orders, and entrusted with all the agency work hitherto carried on in the India Office, including pur chase of stores, payment of pensions, and supervision of