§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)To ask the Secretary of State for India, with reference to the concluding words of a proclamation appearing in the Gazette of India, dated 22nd April, 1902, to the effect that the necessary steps will be taken to select a successor to the chiefship of the State, and that the Governor-General in Council will make known hereafter the name of the person so chosen, and with 406 reference to other instances of similar purport, whether the princes and chiefs of India generally, or any of them, have consented to the succession to their States being left to the decision of the Viceroy for the time being; and, if not, will he state under what Act of Parliament does His Excellency the Viceroy in Council claim the right to choose a successor, as indicated in this proclamation.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) The right of the Government of India to regulate successions in native States does not depend on any Act of Parliament, but is universally recognised and invariably observed and acted upon. It was in exercise of this right that, on the deposition of the late Chief of Patina, in circumstances known to the hon. Member, the Government of India selected Jadvendra Singh, eldest son of the deceased Rao Raja Khumar Singh and first cousin of the deposed chief.