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No. 65. New Zealand, No. 208. My Lord,— Downing Street, 12th July, 1912. I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, copies of an Act of the Imperial Parliament, 2 & 3 George V, chapter 6, entitled " An Act to make such Amendments in the Law relating to the Government of India as are Consequential on the Appointment of a Separate Governor of Fort William in Bengal, and Other Administrative Changes in the Local Government of India." I have, &c, L. HARCOURT. Governor the Right Hon. Lord Islington, K.C.M.G., D.5.0., &c.

Enclosure. Chapter 6. An Act to make such. Amendments in the Law relating to the Government of India as are Consequential on the Appointment of a Separate Governor of Fort William in Bengal, and Other Administrative Changes in the Local Government of India. [25th June, 19 J 2 J Whekeas His Majesty has been pleased to appoint a Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal as delimited by a Proclamation made by the Governor-General in Council, and dated the twentysecond day of March, nineteen hundred and twelve : And whereas the Governor-General in Council by two further Proclamations of the same date has constituted a new province under a Lieutenant-Governor, styled the Province of Bihar and-Orissa, and has taken the Province of Assam under the immediate authority and management of the GovernorGeneral in Council: And whereas it is expedient to declare what powers are exercisable by the Governor and Governor in Council of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and to make other provisions with respect to the administrative changes effected as aforesaid : Be it therefore enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — 1. (1.) It is hereby declared that the Governor and Governor in Council of the Presidency of Fort William, in Bengal shall, within, that presidency as so delimited as aforesaid, have all the rights, duties, functions, and immunities which the Governors and Governors in Council of the Presidencies of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively possess ; and all enactments relating to the Governors of those presidencies and the Councils (whether for executive or legislative purposes) thereof and the members of those Councils shall apply accordingly to the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and his Council and the members of that Council : Provided that — (a.) If the Governor-General in Council reserves to himself any powers now exercisable by him in relation to the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, those powers shall continue to be exercisable by the Governor-General in Council in the like manner and to the like extent as heretofore ; and (/;.) It shall not be obligatory to nominate the Advocate-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, or any officer acting in that capacity, to be a member of the Legislative Council of the Governor of that presidency. (2.) The power of the Governor-General in Council under section one of the Indian Presidency Towns Act, 1815, to extend the limits of the Town of Calcutta shall be transferred to the Governor in Council of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal. 2. The provisions of subsection one of section three of the Indian Councils Act, 1909 (which relate to the constitution of Provincial Executive Councils), shall apply to the Province of Bihar and Orissa in like manner as they applied to the Province of the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort William. 3. It shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council by Proclamation to extend, subject to such modifications and adaptations as he may consider necessary, the provisions of the Indian Councils Acts, 1861 to 1909, touching the making of laws and regulations for the peace and good government of provinces under Lieutenant-Governors (including the provisions as to the constitution of Legislative Councils for such provinces and the business to be transacted therein) to any territories for the time being under a Chief Commissioner, and where such provisions have been applied to any such territories the proviso to section three of the Government of India Act, 1854 (which relates to the alteration of laws and regulations in such territories), shall not those territories. 4. (1.) The enactments mentioned in Part I of the Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments therein specified, and section fifty-seven of the East India Company Act, 1793, and section seventy-one of the Government of India Act, 1833 (which relate to the filling-up of vacancies in the Indian Civil Service), and the other enactments mentioned in Part II of that Schedule are hereby repealed. (2.) Nothing in this Act or in the said recited Proclamations shall affect the power of the GovernorGeneral in Council of making new distributions and arrangements of territories into and among the