§ VISCOUNT LEE OF FAREHAM rose to ask His Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to ensure the passing into law during the present Session of the Government of India (Civil Services) Bill, which has already passed through all its stages in the House of Lords and 1223 is awaiting consideration in the House of Commons; to call attention to the discouragement both to the existing Civil Services in India and to prospective recruits, if there should be any further delay in bringing into effect the safeguards and other benefits provided in the Bill; and to move for Papers.
§ The noble Viscount said: My Lords, since I placed this Motion on the Paper, indeed within the last few hours, I have received from the Secretary of State for India informal assurances, on behalf not only of himself but of his colleagues in the Government, that they regard this Bill as being of peculiar importance at the present juncture, and have every intention of using every possible effort to pass it into law in the course of the present Session. In those circumstances, and in view of the lateness of the hour, I do not propose to address your Lordships on the subject, and I ask leave to withdraw my Motion.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE EARL OF BIRKENHEAD)My Lords, before my noble friend asks leave of the House to withdraw, as he has persevered through a long and lively evening in the hope of asking his Question, I will take advantage of the opportunity of saying very briefly what I have to say. The noble Lord is quite right in drawing the assumption that it would be disastrous if this Bill failed to pass through both Houses in the existing Session of Parliament. It would be regarded, and reasonably regarded, by many of those whose good opinion we do well to value, as a breach of faith, and indeed I must admit that I should find myself in a position both of difficulty and embarrassment if it so failed. With the encouragement of my colleagues I have visited most of the chief Universities in England and Scotland, giving assurances to those for whom we were appealing for recruits, that it was the intention of the Government to pass this Bill into law in the course of the present Session. After three discouraging years of recruitment for the Indian Civil Service we have, during the present year, been afforded the prospect of great hopes for the future, and I have no doubt at all that the devoted labours of my noble friend and his Commission, and the campaign, founded upon the result of their exertions, that has been conducted in the Universi- 1224 ties, have been largely responsible for this encouraging and welcome change.
Let me tell your Lordships how the Bill stands. Most unfortunately, a difference of opinion in the Joint Committee delayed this Bill for nearly six weeks. The Joint Committee made recommendations which the Government were unable to accept. The result of the discussions and the postponement which took place involved the loss of nearly six weeks of time, and greatly jeopardised the fortunes of the Bill in getting Parliamentary sanction. But we still have great hopes that the Bill will pass on to the Statute Book. The Second Reading has been commenced, but not yet concluded in the House of Commons, but we hope that on Friday next it will be concluded. In that event the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following would be available for its discussion in Committee upstairs.
I cannot doubt that those members of the Party to which I myself belong will appreciate the high Imperial consequences of passing this Bill into law now, and equally I hope that members of the Labour Party will not fail to recall that I inherited the Bill, in all its principal features, from them. I made no addition of any great consequence when I presented it to my colleagues, and it would be true to say that this is the Bill which my predecessor in office, Lord Olivier, recommended to his colleagues, and which I believe had at least received the formal* assent of his colleagues at the time when his Government fell. In those circumstances it does not seem to much to hope that while opportunities of criticism should be taken, at least it will be considered that three days are adequate for the purpose of dealing with the Committee Stage. If we can get the Committee Stage on Wednesday evening there should be no difficulty in taking the Report and Third Reading in the course of the next day or two.
§ VISCOUNT LEE OF FAREHAMI beg to thank the noble Earl for the encouraging statement which he has made, and I ask leave to withdraw the Motion on the Paper.
§ Motion, by Leave, withdrawn.
§ House adjourned at twenty minutes before eight o'clock.
§ * This word should be "informal." See columns 1227, 1228 and 1229.