Part of Oral Answers to Questions — India. – in the House of Commons am ar 30 Mehefin 1924.
Colonel Charles Yate
, Melton
asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will consider the Amendment of the present composition of the Legislative Councils, which is limited to the few English-speaking members of the population, by adopting the proposal of Sir Prabashankar Pattani to recast the provincial distribution on a linguistic basis, the guiding principle as far as possible being one language one province?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
