(2)Notwithstanding anything in the preceding subsection, the Federation may retain out of the moneys assigned by that subsection to Provinces and States-(a)in each year of a prescribed period such sum as may be prescribed ; and(b)in each year of a further prescribed period a sum less than that retained in the preceding year by an amount, being the same amount in each year, so calculated that the sum to be retained in the last year of the period will be equal to the amount of each such annual reduction :Provided that-(i)neither of the periods originally prescribed shall 'be reduced by any subsequent Order in Council ;(ii)the Governor-General in his discretion may in any year of the second prescribed period direct that the sum to be retained by the Federation in that year shall be the sum retained in the preceding year, and that the second prescribed period shall be correspondingly extended, but he shall not give any such direction except after consultation with such representatives of Federal, Provincial and State interests as he may think desirable, nor shall he give any such direction unless he is satisfied that the maintenance of the financial stability of the Federal Government requires him so to do.
