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The Chairman of Committees had given Notice to move, That the Standing Orders relative to Special Orders and India and Burma Orders be amended as follows:
Standing Order 216, page 90, line 13, after ("1920") insert ("and")
Standing Order 216, page 90, line 14, leave out from ("1932") to the end of line 17.
Standing Order 218, page 93, leave out the Standing Order.
VISCOUNT MERSEYMy Lords, I think the House will wish to have a short explanation of these Amendments. The effect of the Amendments is to repeal Standing Order 218, under which the India and Burma Orders Committee are appointed each Session, and to transfer the functions of that Committee, to the limited extent to which they still exist, to the Special Orders Committee. The reasons for this new procedure are as follows. Since the decision taken by Burma, and enacted by the Burma Independence Act, 1947, to be a country not within His Majesty's Dominions, no further Burma Orders will be presented to the House. In the case of India, since the passing of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the only Indian Orders which are likely to be presented to Parliament are of minor importance—those dealing with the family pensions funds vested in Commissioners under Section 273 of the Government of India Act 1935, and, possibly, Orders under Section 281 of the Act, which deals with the position of the staff serving in the India Office at the time of the passing of the Act. These Orders, I understand, will deal with more or less routine matters, and will be few in number. It seems, therefore, quite unnecessary to have a special Committee appointed each Session to examine them.
The Amendments also repeal the exemption of Orders made under the Government of India Act from the definition of "Special Orders." In future, therefore any of these Indian Orders which I have mentioned will be referred to the Special Orders Committee, to be examined and reported upon by that Committee in the same way as other Special Orders. I took the opportunity of consulting the members of the Special Orders Committee who attended the last meeting of the Committee, at which I was present, and it was agreed that this 531 new practice would be a simple and convenient way of dealing with these Indian Orders. It happens that several members of the India and Burma Orders Committee of previous Sessions are also members of the Special Orders Committee, so there will be a certain continuity of experience in examining these Orders. I beg to move that the Amendments to the Standing Orders set out on the Order Paper be agreed to.
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Moved, That the Standing Orders relative to Special Orders and India and Burma Orders be amended as follows:
Standing Order 216, page 90, line 13, after (" 1920 ") insert (" and ")
Standing Order 216, page 90, line 14, leave out from (" 1932 ") to the end of line 17.
Standing Order 218, page 93, leave out the Standing Order.—(Viscount Mersey.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to; the said Standing Orders amended accordingly.