§ [SECOND READING.]
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON, Middlesex, Ealing)I beg to move the Second Reading of this Bill. When the powers of the East India Company were transferred to the Crown, it was enacted that all contracts made by the Secretary of State should be signed by two members of the Council. That was the usual practice; but there are certain transactions in regard to which it is 735 very difficult, if not impossible, to get those signatures. All this Bill does is to give power to the Secretary of State to make contracts like the heads of other Departments.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for to-morrow.