ABSTRACT
India Office.—The financial administration of India is carried on from three centres. The first is the India Office. As the supreme authority over the administration of revenue and expenditure is vested in the Secretary of State in Council, by the Act of the Parliament, it is important to know the financial constitution of the India Office. A committee of the India Council, assisted by the Finance Department of the India Office, is the financial adviser to the Secretary of State in Council. It is charged with the duty of considering and examining all proposals involving fresh expenditure whether initiated in England or in India. All questions of increase or decrease of taxation and others even indirectly touching the finances of the country are considered by it before they are referred by the Secretary of State to the Council for its decision. The Finance Department of the India Office, besides controlling and directing the expenditure in England, considers and criticizes proposals of expenditure received from India which, according to rules framed under the Act, require the sanction of the Secretary of State in Council. All financial reports and returns received from India are carefully examined by the Finance Department. From the Finance Department to the Finance Committee and from the Finance Committee to the India Council is the procedure for transacting all financial business of the India Office. The decision of the Secretary of State in Council is final in all financial matters, and the possibility of its being questioned by the Parliament is so very remote that it need not be taken into account for all practical purposes.
