JAPAN AND AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18763, 17 July 1924, Page 9

JAPAN AND AMERICA.

DUAL NATIONALITY BILL. PASSAGE THROUGH DIET. HAWAII ORIENTALS' STATUS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 7.35 p.m.) A and N.Z. WASHINGTON", July 15. A message from Tokio states that "'the Diet has passed the Dual Nationality Bill, which was approved by the Japanese Cabinet on July 7. The United States law governing the immigration of Orientals from Hawaii into the United States will not be affected by the new Immigration Act, so the Secretary of the Labour Department, Mr. J. J. Davis, has decided. It is stated that the 100,000 Japanese who are now legally in Hawaii, are restrained from coming to the United States under the terms of the Act of 1917, and that their status has not been changed by the new Act.

The Dual Nationality Bill which the Japanese Diet has passed is designed to permit Japanese citizens residing abroad, who have not taken the oath of allegiance by serving in the Japanese Army, to relinquish their Japanese citizenship. Thus children born of Japanese parents in the United States, who have suffered under the confused status of their dual nationality, would thus be enabled to discard their Japanese citizenship. It is hoped that the measure may somewhat weaken the contention that the Japanese are not an assimilable race. It supports the Japanese Government's attitude in its lagt Note of protest against the United States exclusion law, and also the assertion of Mr. Shidehara, Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the charge of non-assimilability has not stood the test of time.