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THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

Mr. Bray, consul-general, Melbourne, Australia, to the Assistant Secretary of State, September 1, 1906.

AMERICAN CONSULATE-GENERAL, Melbourne, Australia, September 1, 1906. SIR: In reply to circular instructions, dated July 9, 1906, in regard to citizenship in foreign countries, I beg to report as to the Australian commonwealth as follows:

1. The laws relating to citizenship in Australia are contained in the following sections of the naturalization act of Great Britain, 1870, and the Australian constitution and naturalization acts:

Section 16 of the naturalization act, 1870 (Great Britain and Ireland), reads:

All laws, statutes, and ordinances which may be duly made by the legislature of any British possession for imparting to any person the privileges or any of the privileges of naturalization to be enjoyed by such person within the limits of such possession shall within such limits have the authority of law, but shall be subject to be confirmed or disallowed by Her Majesty in the same manner and subject to the same rules in, and subject to which Her Majesty has power to confirm or disallow any other laws, statutes, or ordinances in that possession.

Section 51 (XIX) of the Commonwealth of Australia constitution act is as follows:

The Parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the commonwealth, with respect to * * * naturalization and aliens.

A copy of the naturalization act, dated October 13, 1903, which was enacted pursuant to that power, is forwarded herewith.

Section 117 of the Australian constitution act, which also has a bearing on the matter, is as follows:

A subject of the Queen, resident in any state, shall not be subject in any other state to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in any other state.

2. The only provision applicable to the means by which citizenship in Australia is lost is section 11 of the naturalization act referred to above.

3. There is no Australian law in regard to the renunciation and reacquisition of citizenship.

4. Australian citizenship is not affected by residence in foreign parts.

5. As Australian citizens are British subjects, the duty of protecting them abroad is performed by the foreign representatives of the British Government.

JOHN P. BRAY,

Consul-General.

[Enclosure.]

AN ACT RELATING TO NATURALIZATION.

[Assented to 13th October, 1903.]

Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the naturalization act, 1903.

2. This act shall commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation."

[a Proclaimed to commence January 1, 1904.]

3. In this act, unless the contrary intention appears—

66

'British subject" means a natural-born British subject or a naturalized person.

"Certificate of naturalization" means a certificate of naturalization granted under this act, and being at the time when it is relied upon in connection with any provision of this act unrevoked.

66

Justice of the peace" means a justice of the peace of the commonwealth⚫ or of a State.

66 Naturalized " means naturalized under this act.

66

'Statutory declaration" means a statutory declaration within the meaning of any law of the commonwealth, or of the State in which the declaration is made relating to statutory declarations.

66 'The minister" means the minister for external affairs.

4. A person who has before the passage of this act obtained in a State or in a colony which has become a State a certificate of naturalization or letters of naturalization shall be deemed to be naturalized.

5. A person resident in the commonwealth, not being a British subject, and not being an aboriginal native of Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, excepting New Zealand, who intends to settle in the commonwealth, and who (a) has resided in Australia continuously for two years immediately preceding the application; or (b) has obtained in the United Kingdom a certificate of naturalization or letters of naturalization, may apply to the governor-general for a certificate of naturalization.

6. (1) An applicant under paragraph (a) of the preceding section shall produce in support of his application (a) his own statutory declaration stating his name, age, birthplace, occupation, and residence, the length of his residence in Australia, and that he intends to settle in the commonwealth; and (b) a certificate signed by a justice of the peace, a postmaster, a teacher of a state school, or an officer of police that the applicant is known to him and is a person of good repute.

(2) An applicant under paragraph (b) of the preceding section shall produce in support of his application

(a) His certificate or letters of naturalization; and

(b) His own statutory declaration that he is the person named in the certificate or letters that he obtained the certificate or letters without any fraud or intentional false statement that the signature and the seal (if any) thereto are, to the best of his knowledge and belief, genuine, and that he intends to settle in the commonwealth.

7. The governor-general in council, if satisfied with the evidence adduced, shall consider the application, and may, with or without assigning any reason, in his discretion grant or withhold a certificate of naturalization, as he thinks most conducive to the public good.

Provided that in the case of an applicant who has not obtained in the United Kingdom a certificate of naturalization or letters of naturalization the governorgeneral shall not issue the certificate until he has received from the applicant the certificate of a justice of the high court or a judge of a court of a State, or a police stipendiary or special magistrate, that the applicant has before him taken an oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form in the schedule to the constitution.

8. A person to whom a certificate of naturalization is granted shall in the commonwealth be entitled to all political and other rights, powers, and privileges and be subject to all obligations to which a natural-born British subject is entitled or subject in the commonwealth.

Provided that where by any provision of the constitution or of any act or State constitution or act a distinction is made between the rights, powers, or privileges of natural-born British subjects and those of persons naturalized in the commonwealth or in a state, the rights, powers, and privileges conferred by this section shall for the purposes of that provision be only those (if any) to which persons so naturalized are therein expressed to be entitled.

9. A woman who, not being a British subject, marries a British subject, shall in the commonwealth be deemed to be thereby naturalized and have the same rights, powers, and privileges, and be subject to the same obligations as a person who has obtained a certificate of naturalization.

10. An infant, not being a natural-born British subject (a) whose father or whose mother (being a widow or divorced) has obtained a certificate of naturalization; or (b) whose mother is married to a natural-born British subject or to a person who has obtained a certificate of naturalization, and who has at

any time resided in Australia with such father or mother, shall in the commonwealth be deemed to be naturalized and have the same rights, powers, and privileges and be subject to the same obligations as a person who has obtained a certificate of naturalization.

11. Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the governor-general that a certificate of naturalization has been obtained by any untrue statement of fact or 'intention, the governor-general may revoke the certificate, which shall thereupon be and be taken to have been of no effect with respect either to the person who obtained the certificate or to any person naturalized by virtue thereof, and shall on demand be delivered up to the minister.

Provided that the revocation shall not affect rights previously acquired by any other person.

12. (1) The minister shall (a) enroll as of record memorials of all certificates of naturalization granted under this act; (b) cancel all certificates of naturalization which have been revoked; (c) cause to be made indexes of the certificates of naturalization and permit any person at all reasonable times to inspect the indexes and to make copies of the certificates on payment of the prescribed fee; (d) cause to be laid before both houses of the parliament annually a return showing the number of persons to whom certificates of naturalization have been granted under this act, the nations to which they belonged, and whence they came.

(2) A person to whom a certificate of naturalization is granted shall not be liable to any fee or charge in respect thereof.

13. From the commencement of this act the right to issue certificates of naturalization in the commonwealth shall be exclusively vested in the government of the commonwealth, and no certificate of naturalization or letters of naturalization issued after the commencement of this act under any state act shall be of any effect.

14. (1) The governor-general may make regulations prescribing all matters which by this act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this act.

(2) All such regulations shall be notified in the Gazette, and shall thereupon have the force of law.

(3) All such regulations shall be laid before both houses of the parliament within thirty days after the making thereof, if the parliament be then sitting, and if not, then within thirty days after the next meeting of the parliament.

BAHAMAS.

[Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Knowles, vice-consul at Nassau, September 5, 1906.] MEMORANDUM ON THE CONDITIONS ON WHICH ALIENS MAY ACQUIRE THE STATUS OF BRITISH SUBJECTS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE COLONY,

Any alien may present a memorial to the governor in council, stating the age, profession, trade, or other occupation of the memorialist, and the duration of his residence in the colony, and all other grounds on which he seeks to obtain the rights of a natural-born British subject.

This memorial is considered by the governor in council, and the governor is empowered, with the advice of the council, to grant a certificate under the great seal of the colony. Before such certificate is granted the oath of allegiance must be taken.

This certificate must be recorded in the office of the public secretary and registrar of records for the colony and certain fees paid into the treasury before it is handed over to the memorialist.

Since April 11, 1872, real and personal property of every description may be taken and held and acquired and disposed of by aliens in all respects as by a natural-born subject. Title to property may also be derived through, from, or in succession to an alien.

An alien may not own a British ship.

[Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Knowles, vice-consul at Nassau, September 5, 1906.]

The colonial secretary to Mr. Knowles, August 17, 1906.

COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
Nassau, August 17, 1906.

SIR: In reply to your letter of the 8th instant I have the honor to inform you that, on all the points on which information is sought in the circular of the 9th of July from the Department of State (herewith returned), the law of this colony is the law of the United Kingdom, with two exceptions, viz:

(1) In pursuance of the powers conferred by the imperial act for the naturalization of aliens (10 and 11 Vic., ch. 83), now replaced by the naturalization act, 1870, the colonial legislature in the year 1848 passed the naturalization act of that year which defines the conditions on which aliens may acquire the status of British subjects within the limits of the colony.

(2) By the naturalization (amendment) No. 2 act, 1872, provision is made for local regulations governing the exercise of powers granted to judicial officers and governors in British possessions with reference to declarations of alienage and certificate of readmission to British nationality; but no such regulations have yet been made.

(3) With reference to question 5, it is the practice of the colonial government, when its assistance is sought for the protection of a native or resident of the colony in a foreign country, to communicate directly with the British diplomatic or consular representative in the country, and not through the Imperial Government.

I have, etc.,

W. HART BENNETT,
Colonial Secretary.

(No. 140, 11th Vict., Ch. 4.)

AN ACT FOR FACILITATING THE NATURALIZATION OF ALIENS."

MARCH 22nd, 1848.

WHEREAS in and by an act of the imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, passed in the tenth and eleventh years of your majesty's reign, entitled "An act for the naturalization of aliens," it is, amongst other things, enacted and declared that all laws, statutes, and ordinances which shall hereafter be made and enacted by the legislatures of any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad for imparting to any person or persons the privileges, or any of the privileges, of naturalization, to be by any such person or persons exercised and enjoyed within the limits of any such colonies or possessions, respectively, shall within such limits have the force and authority of law, any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. And whereas it is expedient that the powers of the said act of Parliament vested in colonial legislatures should

• Text as printed in the Appendix to the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee, Parl. Pap. (1901), Cd. 723.

be exercised by the legislature of this colony, and that an act should be passed for the purpose of affording greater facility for the naturalization of aliens than now by law exists. May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by his Excellency George Benvenuto Mathew, esquire, governor and commander in chief in and over the Bahama Islands, the legislative council and assembly of the said islands, and it is hereby enacted and ordained, by the authority of the same, that upon obtaining the certificate and taking the oath hereinafter prescribed every alien now residing in, or who shall hereafter come to reside in any part of this colony, shall enjoy within the colony all the rights and capacities which a natural-born subject of the United Kingdom can enjoy or transmit within the said colony.

II. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any such alien as aforesaid to present to the governor in council a memorial stating the age, profession, trade, or other occupation of the memorialist and the duration of his residence in the colony, and all other the grounds on which he seeks to obtain the rights and capacities of a naturalborn British subject, and praying the said governor to grant to the memorialist the certificate hereinafter mentioned.

III. And be it enacted, that every such memorial shall be considered by the governor in council, who shall inquire into the circumstances of each case and receive all such evidence as shall be afforded by affidavit or otherwise as such governor, with the advice of the council, may deem necessary or propose for proving the truth of the allegations contained in such memorial, and that the said governor, with the advice of the said council, if he shall so think fit, may, upon the memorialist taking the oath hereinafter prescribed, issue a certificate under the great seal of the colony reciting such of the contents of the memorial as he shall consider to be true and material, as also the fact that the memorialist had taken and subscribed the oath by this act required to be taken and subscribed, and granting to the memorialist all the rights and capacities of a natural-born subject within the colony.

IV. And be it enacted, that before any certificate as aforesaid shall be granted the memorialist to whom rights and capacities are intended to be granted by such certificate shall take and subscribe the following oath (that is to say), I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and will defend her to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever which may be made against her person, Crown, or dignity, and I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against her or them, and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend to the utmost of my power the succession of the Crown, which succession by an act entitled an act for the further limitation of the Crown and better securing the rights and privileges of the subject is and stands limited to the Princess Sophia, electress of Hanover, and the heirs of the body being Protestants hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the Crown of this

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