Captain MURRAYasked the Under-Secretary of State for India, if he will state on how many occasions the provision made ill Section 5 of The Indian Councils Act, 1909, for the appointment of a member of council, other than the Governor-General, to preside in the Legislative Council has been carried into effect?
§ Mr. MONTAGUBy Section 4 of the Indian Councils Act, 1909, which modified provisions of the Act of 1861, the Grover-nor-General is required to appoint a member of his Council to preside at meetings of the Executive and Legislative Councils in the absence of the Governor-General, with the title of Vice-President. Section 5 (2) of the Act of 1909 provides for the appointment of a member of the Legislative Council to preside at discussions of the annual financial statement or of matters of general public interest in the place of the Governor-General or Vice-President appointed under Section 4. The power conferred by Section 5 (2) has only once been used—namely, when the financial statement for 1910–11 was under discussion. The object in view is, first, to 1010 relieve the Governor-General of the necessity of presiding at every meeting of the Legislative Council, and secondly to enable the Vice-President to leave the chair and take part in the debates when the business of his Department is under discussion.