§ MR. OTWAYbegged to ask the President of the Board of Control a question 1954 which he had asked before, and to which the right hon. Gentleman was at the time unable to reply—namely, whether he has taken the opinion of the law officers of the Crown as to the correct interpretation of the 34th section of the Act 3 Will. IV. c. 85; and whether he will sanction an indefinite expenditure from the revenues of India in the prosecution of a suit in this country, such as may be entailed by the guarantee given by the Directors of the East India Company to Mr. Prinsep, one of their body, and a legatee under the alleged will of Mr. Dyce Sombre, for all expenses incurred by him "in re Dyce Sombre"?
MR. VERNON SMITHsaid, in reply to the first question of the hon. Member, that he had taken the opinion of the law officers of the Crown on the construction of the Act in question, and that opinion was favourable to the legality of the course pursued by the Court of Directors. With regard to the second part of the question, he was not aware of the exact scope of his authority, and he could not answer it at the present moment. The statement of the circumstances was rather hypothetical, but he did not think that the powers which had been exercised had been exercised improperly.