Orders of the Day — Government of India Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 20 March 1935.
Mr John Parkinson
, Wigan
I beg to move, in page 36, line 20, to leave out Sub-section (2).
The Clause provides that if a provincial governor considers that there is a threat to peace and tranquillity he can declare a state of emergency. In the case of a violent attempt to overthrow the Government he can take upon himself the whole responsibility of dealing with the situation. In Sub-section (2), after he has declared the state of emergency he can delegate to some person of an official character who is not a member of the Legislature, power to speak in the proceedings of the Legislature. That is a principle which ought not to be established by this Bill. It is rather an innovation. I do not know whether it is in operation in any of the Dominions, but if it is, it ought not to be perpetuated by the Bill. If the Governor has the right to declare a state of emergency he should stand on his own responsibility and not delegate it to an official who is not a member of the Legislature. I do not
know whether it would be a good analogy to say that if the Lord President of the Council or the Prime Minister were to declare a state of emergency in this country they would, by such a Sub-section as this, have the right to send an official out of Whitehall to take their places in this House. That official would have no power to vote but he could put up a case to defend the Government. Sub-section (4) says:
Nothing in this section affects the special responsibility of the Governor for the prevention of any grave menace to the peace or tranquillity of the Province or any part thereof.
One would naturally think that that would cover the whole difficulty. We do not like this delegation of power to somebody who is not a member of the Legislature. If it is necessary to delegate power, it should be to somebody who is a member of the Chamber to which he has been elected. Our objection to Subsection (2), is to the establishment of a principle which we think—
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Whitehall is a wide road that runs through the heart of Westminster, starting at Trafalgar square and ending at Parliament. It is most often found in Hansard as a way of referring to the combined mass of central government departments, although many of them no longer have buildings on Whitehall itself.
