§ MR. LABOUCHEREI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Auditor of the India Office was; consulted as to the legality and propriety of charging India with the whole cost of the reception at the India Office on the 4th instant; and whether the question of the fair apportionment of this charge between the Indian and the Imperial Treasuries will be submitted for the arbitration of the Lord Chief Justice.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingAs to the legality of the charges to which the Question refers, there can be no doubt whatever; as to its propriety, it is no part of the duty of the Auditor of the Accounts of the Secretary of State in Council to give an opinion. The arbitration of the Lord Chief Justice is to be resorted to only in cases where there is a difference of opinion between the Treasury and the India Office as to the proper incidence of a charge; and in this case there is no such difference of opinion.