Commit. tees of council. [21 & 22 Vict. c. 11. 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 106, 8. 20.] under those committees respectively, and generally direct the manner in which all business of the council or committees thereof is to be transacted (a). Submis. sion of to council, thereon. (a) The existing committees are Finance, Political and Secret, Military, Revenue and Statistics, Public Works, Stores, and Judicial and Public. Orders and Dispatches. 12.-(1) Subject to the provisions (a) embodied in this orders, &c. Digest, every order or communication proposed to be sent to and record India, and every order proposed to be made in the United of opinions Kingdom by the Secretary of State under the Government of India Act, 1858, must, unless it has been submitted to a meeting of the Council of India, be deposited in the council room for the perusal of all members of the council during seven days before the sending or making thereof. [21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, ss. 24, 25.] Provision for cases of urgency, [21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, s. 26.] (2) Any member of the Council of India may record, in a minute-book kept for that purpose, his opinion with respect to any such order or communication, and a copy of every opinion so recorded must be sent forthwith to the Secretary of State. (3) If the majority of the Council of India so record their opinions against any act proposed to be done, the Secretary of State must, unless he defers to the opinion of the majority, record his reasons for acting in opposition thereto. (a) The qualifications relate to urgency orders under s. 13 and secret orders under s. 14. 13. (1) Where it appears to the Secretary of State that the dispatch of any communication or the making of any order, not being an order for which a majority of votes at a meeting of the Council of India is by this Digest declared to be necessary (a), is urgently required, the communication may be sent or order made, although it has not been submitted to a meeting of the Council of India or deposited for the perusal of the members of that council. (2) In any such case the Secretary of State must, except as by this Digest provided (b), record the urgent reasons for sending the communication or making the order, and give notice thereof to every member of the council. (a) See note on s. 10. (b) The exception is under the next section, s. 14. 14.-(1) Where an order concerns the levying of war or the making of peace, or the treating or negotiating with any prince or State, or the policy to be observed with respect to any prince or State, and is not an order for which a majority of votes at a meeting of the Council of India is by this Digest declared to be necessary (a), and is an order which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is of a nature to require secrecy, the Secretary of State may send the order to the Governor-General in Council or to any Governor in Council or officer in India without having submitted the order to a meeting of the Council of India or deposited it for the perusal of the members of that council, and without recording or giving notice of the reasons for making the order (b). Provision as to secret orders and dispatches. [33 Geo. III, c. 52, SS. 19, 20. 3 & 4 Will. 8. 36. Vict. c. 106, s. 27.] [33 Geo. III, c. 52, 8.22 Vict. c. (2) Where any dispatch from the Governor-General in Council, or from a Governor in Council, concerns the government of British India, or any of the matters aforesaid, and in the judgement of the authority sending the dispatch is of 106, s. 28.] a nature to require secrecy, it may be marked 'Secret' by the authority sending it; and a dispatch so marked is not to be communicated to the members of the Council of India unless the Secretary of State so directs. (a) See note on s. 10. (b) The Act of 1784 (24 Geo. III, sess. 2, c. 25), which constituted the Board of Control, directed that a committee of secrecy, consisting of not more than three members, should be formed out of the directors of the Company, and, when the Board of Control issued orders requiring secrecy, the committee of secrecy was to transmit the orders to India, without informing the other directors. (See above, p. 63.) These directions were reproduced by the Charter Act of 1793 (33 Geo. III, c. 52, ss. 19, 20), and by the Charter Act of 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 85, and Vict. c. ss. 35, 36). The Government of India Act, 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, s. 27), directed that orders which formerly went through the secret committee need not be communicated to the council, unless they were orders for which a majority of votes of the council was required. There are similar provisions as to dispatches from India. 'Secret' orders are usually communicated to the Political and Secret Committee of the council. (See above, s. II.) Signature 15. (1) Every order or communication sent to India, and address of [save as expressly provided by this Digest] every order made orders, &c. in the United Kingdom in relation to the government of India [21 & 22 under this Act, must be signed by the Secretary of State (a). (2) Every dispatch from the Governor-General in Council or from a Governor in Council must be addressed to the Secretary of State (b). 106, s. 19.] Communi- (a) This reproduces the existing enactment, but of course applies only to official orders and communications. It is not clear to what provisions (if any) the saving refers. (b) This recognizes the right of the Governments of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay to communicate directly with the Secretary of State, a right derived from a time when Madras and Bombay constituted independent presidencies together with the Presidency of Bengal, and before a general Government of India had been established. 16. 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 must, unless the order for com- has in the meantime been revoked or suspended, be communimencing hostilities, cated to both Houses of Parliament within three months after [21 & 22 the sending of the order, or, if Parliament is not sitting at the Vict. c. 106, s. 54.] expiration of those three months, then within one month after the next meeting of Parliament (a). Corre spondence by General (a) See also s. 24. 17. It is the duty of the Governor-General in Council to transmit to the Secretary of State constantly and diligently Governor- an exact particular of all advices or intelligence, and of all with Sec- transactions and matters, coming to the knowledge of the retary of Governor-General in Council and relating to the government, State. [13 Geo. commerce, revenues, or affairs of India (a). III, c. 63, 8. 9.] (a) This reproduces an enactment contained in the Regulating Act, 1773, by which Warren Hastings and his successors were directed to correspond regularly with the Court of Directors at home, but its re-enactment would probably not be considered necessary at the present day. Establishment of Secretary of State. His 18.-(1) No addition may be made to the establishment of the Secretary of State in Council, nor to the salaries of the persons on that establishment, except by an order of Majesty in Council, to be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days after the making thereof, or, if Parliament is not sitting, then within fourteen days after the next meeting of Parliament. (2) The regulations made by His Majesty for examinations, certificates, probation, or other tests of fitness in relation to appointments to junior situations in the civil service 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 (a). (a) This is the enactment by which the staff of the India Office is regulated. 19. 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 be granted to persons on the establishment of a Secretary of State under the laws for the time being in force concerning superannuations and other allowances to persons having held civil offices in the public service, or to personal representatives of such persons (a). (a) This gives the staff of the India Office pensions on the civil service scale, i. e. one-sixtieth of annual salary for each year of service, [21 & 22 Vict. c. subject to certain conditions and restrictions, or, since the Superannuation Act of 1909, one-eightieth of annual salary and a lump sum in addition. Indian Appointments. 20.-(1) Except as provided by this Digest, all powers of 106, s. 37.] making regulations in relation to appointments and admissions to service and other matters connected therewith, and of altering or revoking such regulations, which, if the Government of India Act, 1858, had not been passed, might have been exercised by the Court of Directors or Commissioners for the Affairs of India, may be exercised by the Secretary of State in Council. Indian ments. [21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, ss. 33, 35. 23 & 24 Vict. (2) Provided that in any regulations for the time being in appoint force for the organization of the Indian Army provision must be made for the benefit of the sons of persons who have served in India in the military or civil service of the Crown or of the East India Company equally advantageous with the provisions as to military cadetships in the Indian Army which were in force before the twentieth day of August one thousand eight hundred and sixty, and the selection of such persons is to be in accordance with regulations made by the Secretary of State (a). c. 100, s. 1.] (a) Sections 33, 34, 35, and 36 of the Government of India Act, 1858, run as follows: 33. All appointments to cadetships, naval and military, and all admissions to service not herein otherwise expressly provided for, shall be vested in Her Majesty; and the names of persons to be from time to time recommended for such cadetships and service shall be submitted to Her Majesty by the Secretary of State. '34. Regulations shall be made for admitting any persons, being natural-born subjects of Her Majesty (and of such age and qualifications as may be prescribed in this behalf), who may be desirous of becoming candidates for cadetships in the engineers and in the artillery, to be examined as candidates accordingly, and for prescribing the branches of knowledge in which such candidates shall be examined, and generally for regulating and conducting such examinations. 35. Not less than one-tenth of the whole number of persons to be recommended in any year for military cadetships (other than cadetships in the engineers and artillery) shall be selected according to such regulations as the Secretary of State in Council may from time to time |