'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎109v] (218/248)

1. tor this purpose the law should declare that it shall be in the power
of the (iovernor-( ieneral to charg'e each Member of the Council with the
direction of such department of the Government as he may think lit; and
that, subject to any regulations which the Governor-General in Council may
lay down, the orders of that Member of the Council should in such
department be held to be the orders of the Governor-General in Council.
o. It is not possible, or desirable, to deline by law what questions should
be submitted to the whole Council. Subjects constantly arise upon which it
is quite right that a Member of Council should consult the Governor General,
but which it would be a waste of time to bring before every Member of the
( ouncil. 1 he practice should be regulated as in the English Cabinet by
good understanding and common sense, and by the paramount authority of
the head of the Government.
1 here is no fear that any important questions would be kept from the
consideration of the whole Council by such a change.
“ G. liie change would certainly not diminish the dignity and weight
which should attach to a seat m the Governor-General s Council.
In drafting Section 8 of the Act of 1801 Lord Canning’s view was
followed that it was not possible or desirable to define bylaw what questions
should be submitted to the whole Council. The section is suflicientlv wide to
allow the Governor-General to make rules of business which determine what
questions should be disposed of departmentally by the member in charge of
the department without reference to the Governor-General, what questions
should be disposed of by the member with the concurrence of the Governor-
General, and what questions should go to the whole Council. The possible
danger of this was foreseen by the Secretary of State for India (Sir Charles
Wood) at the time, in a despatch to the Government of India, No. 14,
dated 0th August 1861, forwarding a copy of the Indian Councils Act of
1861, he wrote as follows :—
/. I he onh other provision bl the Act relating to the Executive Council
of the Goveinoi-General to which 1 consider it necessary to advert is
Section 8, which authorises the Governor-General, irom time to time, to make
iules and oiders lor the more convenient transaction of business in his
Council. By the arrangement of the business already made by Your
Loidship m Council, a remedy has of late years been applied to the
cumbrous mode of conducting business which formerly prevailed. The
expediency of such arrangements, and of carrying them to such an extent as
the Governor General may think desirable for the more convenient despatch
of public business, is formally recognised by Section 8.
8. I need hardly impress upon Your Lordship the necessity of caution in
flaming the inlos and oideis, so as not to exceed the limit of the discretion
conferred upon the Governor-General by this section of the Act, The object
to be kept in view is the more convenient transaction of business. There is
nothing m the piovision of a nature to detract from the authority or
responsibility of the Governor-General, or of the Council.”
The Rules of Business have never been published and may be regarded
as confidential. I>ut it is understood that the Rules recognise pure
depai(mentalism, ?.c., action on behalf of the Governor-General in Council
by a single member; also in matters of greater importance pure depart
mentalism tempered by reference to the Viceroy. Unless the Viceroy differ
from the member of the department as to the orders which should be passed
on a case, or unless there should be a difference of opinion between the
members in charge of the departments concerned with the case, or unless
the \ iceroy for special reasons—such as its importance—consider that the
case ought to come before the Council, it would be departmentally disposed
°fg The orders would run in the name of the Governor-General in Council
ami would be valid as such. In deciding what matters are of sufficient
importance to go before Council a Viceroy would probably describe his
practice very much in Lord Canning's words as “ regulated as in the Enolish
Cabinet by good understanding and common sense.”