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 CHAPTER VI

The Regulating Act

1773-1775

In the very first year of Hastings' Government the Company's affairs were rigidly overhauled by Parliamentary Committees, whose enquiries resulted in Lord North's Regulating Act of 1773. Up to that time, as Hastings wrote to the Court of Directors, 'our constitution is nowhere to be traced but in ancient charters, which were framed for the jurisdiction of your trading settlements, the rates of your exports, and the provision of your annual investment.' No wonder that these proved wholly unfitted for 'the government of a great kingdom, and for the preservation of its riches from private violence and embezzlement.' The new Act was the first serious attempt made by the British Legislature to set up in India a form of government suitable to the changed conditions of the Company's official work.

The new Act ordained that each Director should hold office for four years, instead of one. The qualification for a vote in the Court of Proprietors was raised from £500 to £1000. No Proprietor might