§ Order for Committee read.
§ MR. VANSITTARTsaid, that this Bill proposed to enlarge the powers of the Governor General for making laws and regulations in India, and to that he entertained no objection. He deeply regretted the result of recent operations in Bhootan, which reflected no lustre on our arms. He wished to know whether, a few months since, instructions had not been issued to Sir John Lawrence not to make any new appointments of greater value than £400 a year without communicating with the Homo authorities? He could not reconcile this petty interference with the professed object of this Bill, which would confer extensive powers in important affairs upon the Governor General.
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, the operations in Bhootan had been undertaken at the recommendation of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, but the troops were not to occupy territory, but only to hold a line of forts to protect our own frontier. With regard to the second point, no new orders had been issued on the subject, but it had been from time immemorial the standing rule not to make any new appointments above a certain value without the sanction of the Home Government.
§ Bill considered in Committee.
§ House resumed.
§ Bill reported, without Amendment; to be read 3° on Thursday.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before One o'clock.