2. Such memorial shall state to the best of the knowledge and belief of the memorialist, his age, place of birth, place of residence, profession, trade or occupation, the length of time during which he has resided within the said territories, that he is settled in the said territories, or is residing within the same with intent to settle therein, and any other particulars which the government may require to be stated therein, and such memorial shall be in writing and signed by the memorialist, and accompanied by an affidavit sworn by him, verifying the truth of the statements contained therein.

3. The memorial shall be considered by the government to whom it shall be presented, who shall enquire into the circumstances of the case, and may require such evidence either by affidavit or otherwise as they may deem proper," in addition to the before-mentioned affidavit of the memorialist, to prove the truth of the statements contained in such memorial.

4. The government may, if they shall think fit, issue a certificate in writing reciting such of the contents of the memorial as they may consider to be true and material, and granting to the memorialist all the rights, privileges, and capacities of naturalization under this act, except such rights, privileges, or capacities, if any, as may be specially excepted in such certificate.

5. The certificate shall be delivered to the memorialist, and a copy or duplicate thereof, together with the memorial upon which the same shall be obtained, and any affidavit which may accompany such memorial or be produced in support thereof, shall be filed by the secretary to the government, or such other officer as the government may direct; and such secretary or officer shall keep an alphabetical list of all persons who may be naturalized by such government.

6. If any material statement contained in such memorial shall be false, the government may, if they think fit, by an order in writing, declare the certificate issued upon such memorial to be null and void to all intents and purposes, except such purposes, if any, as may be specially excepted in such order, and from and after such order all the rights, privileges, and capacities derived through such certificate shall cease to exist.

7. Such fees shall be payable in respect of the proceedings hereby authorized as shall be fixed by the government."

8. Upon obtaining such certificate, and taking and subscribing the oath as hereinafter prescribed, the memorialist shall within the said territories under the government of the East India Company be deemed a natural-born subject of Her Majesty as if he had been born

a For example of a rule under this section, see Bombay List of Local Rules and Orders, Vol. I, ed. 1896, p. 19.

For order fixing such fees in Madras (see Madras List of Local Rules and Orders, ed. 1894, p. 5).

For order fixing such fees in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (see Northwestern Provinces and Oudh List of Local Rules and Orders, ed. 1894, p. 11).

For order fixing such fees in Burma (see Burma Laws List, ed. 1897, p. 4). For order fixing such fees in Assam (see Assam List of Local Rules and Orders, ed. 1893, p. 1).

within the said territories," and shall be entitled within the said territories to all the rights, privileges, and capacities of a subject of Her Majesty born within the said territories, except such rights, privileges, and capacities, if any, as may be specially excepted in such certificate.

9. [Saving of jurisdiction of Indian courts.] Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1874 (XVI of 1874).

10. Within sixty days from the day of the date of such certificate the memorialist named in such certificate shall take and subscribe the oath contained in the schedule annexed to this act.

11. Such oath, as well as any other oath or affidavit required by this act, may be administered by any magistrate or justice of the peace within the limits of his jurisdiction, or by any other person to be appointed for that purpose by government, and the person who shall administer the oath mentioned in the schedule to this act annexed shall grant to the memorialist a certificate in writing of his having taken and subscribed such oath, and of the date of his taking and subscribing the same, and shall forward to the government the oath so taken and subscribed, together with a duplicate of such certificate, which oath and duplicate certificate shall be filed and kept with the memorial.

12. The word "government" in this act shall be deemed to mean the person or persons for the time being lawfully entitled to administer the executive government in that part of the said territories in which the memorialist shall reside at the time of presenting such memorial. The word "magistrate " shall include any person lawfully exercising the powers of a magistrate, and words denoting the masculine gender shall include the feminine.

13. In every case in which the word "oath or "affidavit" is used in this act, an affirmation to the same effect as the oath or affidavit required shall be sufficient in cases where the person required to make such oath or affidavit shall be a person allowed by law to affirm in civil cases, and in every such case such affirmation shall be made before the person authorized to administer the oath, and the word "oath "affidavit " wherever used in this act shall include such affirmation.

SCHEDULE.
Oath.

or

I, A. B., of (here state the description of the party), do swear (or being one of the persons allowed by law to affirm in civil cases, do affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of these territories

(Signed)

*

A. B.

a A person taking out a certificate under this act obtains only such advantages as are afforded by colonial naturalization" (Hall, Foreign Jurisdiction of the British Crown, pp. 30, 31). By the operation of the saving contained in the naturalization act, 1870 (33 and 34 Vict., c. 14), section 16, he acquires the status of a natural-born subject of His Majesty only with reference to British India, though in practice the provisicas of that section have not always been applied with absolute strictness in the case of colonial enactments (Hall, pp. 28, 29).

The word "as dependent thereon, and that I will be true and faithful to the East India Company" were repealed by the repealing act, 1876 (XII of 1876).

MALTA.

[Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Grout, consul at Valletta, August 31, 1906.]

CITIZENSHIP.

Malta is governed by the laws (the naturalization acts) and practice of Great Britain in regard to the acquisition and loss of nationality, etc.

As regards naturalization and denization, a special law is in force which is contained in proclamation No. IX, of the 24th October, 1817. It reads as follows:

I. The privileges of a Maltese subject of His Britanic Majesty may be communicated either wholly or in part in two different ways:

First. By naturalization; that is, by a legislative act of this Government, to be duly published and enrolled, and by which the privileges in question are granted irrevocably and without limitation.

Second. By denization; that is, by letters patent to be issued by the governor in his executive capacity, and with such limitations as to the extent of the privileges and the term of their duration as may be judged applicable to each individual case; and to be granted only during pleasure.

II. His Majesty's Government reserves to itself the power of granting or refusing either the one or the other of such acts at its own pleasure and discretion, as well as the power of granting the same to any individual not possessing the qualifications which are generally held to be necessary for obtaining those indulgences respectively, and

which are as follows:

III. In order to authorize the demand of an act of naturalization, it will be required that the party applying for the same shall have been resident in these possessions for the full term of fifteen years and shall have given two years' notice to government of his intention to make such application; but in favor of the persons who shall have previously obtained letters of denization the notice will be dispensed with provided the period from the date of such act of denization exceeds that required for the notice.

IV. In order to demand letters of denization it will be required that the party applying shall have had his usual place of residence within these possessions for the term of ten years and shall have given at least six months' notice of his intention to make such application.

V. The most unimpeachable certificates of good character, and of propriety of conduct, will be required in both instances, and, in the case of persons holding letters of denization, the sentence of His Majesty's court in these islands on any such person, when the punishment exceeds six months imprisonment, will, ipso facto, subject him to the forfeitre of such letters of denization and all rights and priviledges thereto attached.

VI. The privileges granted by an act of naturalization will extend to all unmarried children, being legitimate, under the ages of 21 years, and actually residing with their father at the time of such naturalization, although such children may not have been born within these islands; provided that the names of such children be notified to government at the time of granting such act of naturali

zation. The privileges attached to letters of denization will be strictly confined to the person to whom they are issued.

VII. Previous to issuing either an act of naturalization or of denization the parties must take the oath of allegiance to His Britannic Majesty and must disclaim, in the most formal manner, all other protection on the one hand or allegiance on the other.

VIII. Any person holding such act of naturalization or denization who can be proved, after the date thereof, to have taken any oath of allegiance to any other sovereign, or to have claimed or enjoyed any priviledges attached to the subject of a foreign power, without the especial permission of government to that effect, will not only forfeit all such priviledges, but will be sent forthwith from these possessions.

IX. As it is intended to grant acts of naturalization to such persons only who are in a respectable line of life and possessed of a certain competency, arising from either property or trade, the fee upon such instrument will be two hundred and fifty scudi (about $100). X. With regard to letters of denization, the fees will be regulated from one hunded and fifty scudi to twenty, according to the circumstances of the case, the privileges granted, and the situation in life of the applicant.

XI. Such persons who may already have received from this government letters of naturalization will produce the same within one month from the publication hereof at the chief secretary's office, when such letters will be canceled and the parties in lieu thereof will receive either acts of naturalization or letters of denization, according to their respective claims.

VALETTA, MALTA, August 31, 1906.

JOHN H. GROUT, Consul.

NATAL.

[Enclosures in despatch from Mr. Lay, consul-general, Cape Town, September 28, 1906.] HENRY MCCALLUM,

[No. 18, 1905.]

Governor.

ACT TO MAKE BETTER PROVISION WITH REGARD TO THE NATURALIZATION OF ALIENS."

Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council and legislative assembly of Natal, as follows:

1. Law No. 23, 1874, entituled law "To repeal and reenact with amendments Law No. 8, 1874, For further facilitating the naturalization of persons of European birth or descent" is hereby repealed.

2. (1) An alien of European birth or descent who has been in the service of the Crown or who within such limited time before making the application hereinafter mentioned as may be prescribed by the Governor, either by general order or on any special occasion, (a) Has resided in Natal for a term of not less than five years; or (b) Who having resided in Natal for a term of one year immediately before

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making the application hereinafter mentioned, has also resided in any part of His Majesty's dominions for such period as together with the period of one year aforesaid, will make up five years in all; and who intends, when naturalized, to reside or to serve under the Crown. in Natal, may apply for a certificate of naturalization in the form prescribed in the first schedule of this act.

(2) The applicant shall produce in support of his application a certificate signed by some magistrate or justice of the peace to the effect that the applicant is known to the person so signing, and that to the best of such person's belief and knowledge the applicant is a person of good repute; and shall give such further evidence of the completion by him of the said term of service or of residence and of his intention to reside or to serve under the Crown in Natal as the governor may require; and shall furnish proof that notice of his intention to apply for a certificate of naturalization has been published in two issues of the Government Gazette.

(3) The governor, if satisfied with the evidence, shall take the applicant's case into consideration and may with or without assigning any reason grant or withhold the certificate as he thinks most conducive to the public good, and no appeal shall lie from his decision.

(4) No such certificate shall have any effect until the applicant has made and subscribed to the declaration of allegiance in the form prescribed in the second schedule hereto.

3. If the governor thinks fit to grant such certificate of naturalization, he shall direct the applicant to make and subscribe the declaration of allegiance in the form prescribed in the second schedule of this act before some magistrate or justice of the peace; and upon the certificate of such magistrate or justice of the peace that the applicant has made and subscribed before him the said declaration, he shall cause to be issued to the applicant a certificate of naturalization in the form prescribed by the governor.

4. Every person to whom a certificate of naturalization under this act is granted shall, except as otherwise provided by law, be entitled to all the rights, powers, and privileges, and be subject to all obligations to which a natural-born British subject is entitled or subject in this colony.

5. Any person who shall have been granted a certificate of naturalization in the United Kingdom under section 7 of the naturalization act, 1870, of the Imperial Parliament, or who shall have been granted a certificate of readmission to British nationality under section 8 of the said act, and shall not subsequently have divested himself of his status as a British subject, shall, subject to any existing or future laws of this colony, be entitled in the colony to all the rights, powers, and privileges and be subject to all the obligations to which he would be entitled and subject if he had been granted a certificate of naturalization under the provisions of this act.

6. (1) Every married woman shall in this colony be deemed to be a subject of the State of which her husband is for the time being a subject.

(2) Where the father or the mother (being a widow) shall be or become naturalized under this act any child of such father or mother who while under age shall be or become resident with such father or