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of all certificates of naturalization granted under this act; (b) cancel all certificates of naturalization which have been revoked; (c) cause to be made indexes of the certificates of naturalization and permit any person at all reasonable times to inspect the indexes and to make copies of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, 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, (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 a 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 realm, so help me God; which oath shall be taken and subscribed by such memorialist, and shall be duly administered to him or her before the clerk of the council for these islands if such oath shall be taken and subscribed in the island of New Providence or before any one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace for these islands or for any district thereof-if such oath shall be taken and subscribed at any other island of this government, and in the latter case the justice of the peace administering the oath shall grant to the person taking and subscribing it a certificate of his or her having taken and subscribed such oath accordingly. V. And be it enacted, that all certificates granted under this act shall be recorded in the office of the public secretary and registrar of records for the colony. VI. And be it enacted, that the fees payable in respect of the several proceedings hereby authorised shall be fixed and regulated by the governor in council and shall be paid into the public treasury of these islands in aid of the expenses of the government thereof. VII. And be it enacted, that the word "governor " in this act shall extend and apply to the person lawfully administering the government of these islands for the time being, and the words "clerk of the council" shall extend and apply to the person discharging the duties of that office for the time being. [35 Vict., Cap. 20.] AN ACT SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE IMPERIAL STATUTE (33 VICT., C. 14), TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO THE LEGAL CONDITION OF ALIENS AND BRITISH SUBJECTS." (Assented to 23d May, 1872.) Whereas in and by an act of the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, passed in the thirty-third year of Her Majesty's reign, designated "the naturalization act, 1870," provision is made for taking declaration of alienage and of British nationality and for granting certificates of readmission to British nationality, not only in the United Kingdom, but elsewhere in Her Majesty's dominions, and power is granted to certain judicial officers in the British possessions to take such declarations and to the governors of such possessions to grant such certificates. And whereas the said act was amended by an act passed in the same year designated the naturalization oaths act, 1870, and the two acts are collectively designated the "naturalization acts, 1870." And whereas an act was passed during the present session of assembly making provision for carrying into effect the said acts of Parliament, but in consequence of a clerical error in the engrossing thereof the meaning of its provisions is obscure and doubtful, and it is expedient that there should be further legislation on the subject, a Text as printed in the Appendix to the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee. Parl. Pap. (1901), Cd. 723. may it therefore please the Queen's most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by his honor Captain George Cumine Strahan, Royal Artillery, administrator of the government of 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, as follows: I. The governor may, acting by and with the advice of Her Majesty's executive council, provide by regulations for the following matters: 1. The registration in the office of the registrar of records of all declarations taken and certificates granted and oaths of allegiance administered in the colony under the said acts. 2. The proof in any legal proceedings of such oaths. 3. The persons by whom certified copies of such declarations, certificates, and oaths, and of entries of the same in such register, may be given. 4. The transmission to Her Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies, for the purpose of registration, or safe-keeping, or of being produced as evidence of any declaration taken, certificates granted, or oaths of allegiance administered in the colony under the said acts, or of any copies of such declarations, certificates, or oaths; also of copies of entries of such declarations, certificates, and oaths contained in such register as aforesaid. 5. The imposition and application of fees in respect of any such registration, and in respect of the taking of any such declaration, or the grant of any such certificate, or the administration of any such oath, and in respect of certified copies of any such declaration, certificate, or oath. II. The act heretofore passed during the present session and hereinbefore referred to is hereby repealed, and it shall not be necessary to chapter or print the same among the acts of this session or otherwise. BARBADOS. Mr. Clare, consul at Barbados, to the Assistant Secretary of State, September 22, 1906. AMERICAN CONSULATE, Barbados, West Indies, September 22, 1906. SIR: Referring to the Department's circular of July 9, 1906, entitled "Citizenship," I have the honor to say that it will be sufficient to refer to the British imperial naturalization act of 1870 (33 and 34 Vict., c. 14), which governs in this colony. There are no local laws relating to naturalization and the acquisition of citizenship in this island, the act above quoted governing in all cases. I have, etc., ARTHUR J. CLARE, |