3.
If the power was not transferred, it was not caught by article 2 of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Order 1968 (No. 1968/1657).
The provision referring to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the 1935 Order in Council cannot be removed by another Order in Council made under section 2 of the 1926 Act, because that Act confers no power on Her Majesty in Council to revoke or to amend an Order made under section 2 of the 1926 Act.
I consider, however, that the transfer to our Secretary of State of the power formerly exercisable by the Secretary of State for the Colonies can be made under section 1 of the 1946 Act mentioned in the first paragraph of this minute, Sub-section (1) of that section reads as follows:-
Her Majesty may by Order in Council provide for the transfer to any Minister of the Crown of any functions theretofore exercisable by another Minister. "
After further consideration, however, it has been decided that although the transfer of power to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs could be made under the 1946 Act, since the existing Hong Kong Divorce Jurisdiction Order in Council 1935 has become in part ineffective, the original power under Section 2 of the Indian and Colonial Divorce Jurisdiction Act, 1926, to "provide for applying" Section 1 of the Act, extends to supplementing the existing Order with the necessary new modification.
4.
Action will now be taken accordingly.
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