BRITISH OR RUSSIAN?

Mataura Ensign, 13 May 1912, Page 5

BRITISH OR RUSSIAN?

THE CASE OF MISS MALECKA. BT ELECTRIC TELEGEAPH.—COPTEIGHT. I PEB UNITED PEESS ASSOCIATION. I Received May 13, 8.59 a.m. I LONDON, May 12. The 'Daily Chronicle' says, "The Foreign Office must insisit on the recognition of the naturalisation papers granted to Miss Malecka's father and of her passport." Other newspapers state that the Russian Government emphasises that Russians are unable to change their nationality without the consent of the Czar, which Miss Malecka's father did n<is obtain. Miss Malecka has been found guilty at Warsaw and sentenced to four years' penal servitude. The question of Miss Malecka's nationality (says the 'Daily - News') is simple. Her mother was an Englishwoman and her father a Polish a naturalised British subject. Hence, according to English law, Miss Malecka is a British subject, and has the right to expect such help iand protection as the British Government can afford her. According to Russian law Mr Malecka remained a Russian subject in spite of naturalisation in England, an act in which the Russian Government refuses to acquiesce except in rare instances. Hence the Russian authorities insist that Miss Malecka. is a Russian subject. Miss Malecka has lived almost all her life in England. She is an orphan and it is comparatively lately that she learnt the Polish language out of reverence for her father's memory.