Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE. MONDAY, JUNE 10, 1913. IMPERIAL NATURALISATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13102, 16 June 1913, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1913. IMPERIAL NATURALISATION.

The Under-Secretary for the Colonies stated m the House of Commons last week that he hoped a Bill would soon bi agreed upon ' for the' enactment of Empire naturalisation. This is a subject of vital interest to many persons scattered throughout the vast British Dominions, and is one tending m no small way to make for the greater Unity of the Empire. Amazing anomalies at present exist m. the rights and qualifications of British citizenship. Not everyone domesticated under the Union Jack

can say. with ilk> |.ii<.7 uf th> old Roman and full moaning of the 'term, "1 am .1, British citizen." A man may I bo naturalised m Australia or New Zea- ; land, but finds when ho goes to Great j Britain that he is not naturalised there ; j and as theix. is a- principle of English law which attaches British nationality to all pel-sons, of whatever parentage, born within the ■ Dominions of the Crown, this gives the children m such cases a . better status than their parents possess. With the great influx of for■eigner's into C.;:i..da, where they secure ; naturalisation, and ' subseqeuntly as .. prosperity l-aciies them, travel to EngI land or other parts of the British Empire- and- perhaps dsdii-e to make residence or investments there, the disabilii ties arising irom the want of uniformity 'j m our naturalisation laws become very •apparent. According to the London 'T.'iv.e.. a draft Bil dealing with the subject, has been before the Governments of tho overseas Dominions for some considerable time. Its provisions obtained the assent of tho Imperial Conj'ference m 1911; and one may hope that *at last, after many tedious preliminarjies, something like a principle and an •; approach to order will be- substituted > for tho present confusion. Parliament (has not really touched the subject since 1 1870, and it then legislated .ortly with j respect to some branches of the matter, j It did not foresee the variety and magnij tude of the questions which th© creation } of -seif-governing communities within the j Empire would raise. The Act of that lyear provided for naturalisation m the j United Kingdom based on residence i tliereip; and valid m a sense throughj.out the Ehlpire. It contained a section, j not very intelligible, as| to certificates jof naturalisation granted m accordance j with colonial legislation. It crid away .with or curtailed certain principles of the Coriimon Law. Thus, for example, it permitted British subjects tb divest themselvek of their status. The fram--1 ers of the Act did not, however/ foresee ' the growth of local I.mvs as to natnralisa--1 tion differing m • important respects, j some 'requiring a residence of five years, ; the term fixed by the statute of 1870, j others, as m the case of New Zealand, j stipulating for no hard-and-fast period iof residence'; some drawing no distinc- !. tion between people of different races, ! others excluding Asiatics ; some insistj ing upon the claimant's conforming to j an educational or language test, others j imposing no such restriction. The reIsult is confusion and bewilderment. The subject was fully discussed at the , last Imperial Conference, and some five 1 propositions were then agreed to ;> the j chief of them being that Imperial natur- | alisation- should be world-wide and unij form, while each Dominion was free to j grant local naturalisation on such terms las its Legislature thought fit ; that, while tho Home Government maintained j th© present limit of five years, residence j for that period anywhere within the J Empire shoidd be effectual ; and ' that j nothing should be done to invalidate or affect local laws. Upon these lines was drafted a Bill which provided that, m any British possessions" m which the conditions as to naturalisation were substantially tlie same as those required m i England, an Order-in-Council might empower the Governor to grant a certificate, of naturalisation which would have the . same effect as a certificate issued by the j Secretary of State. The Bill has been j favorably received m the Dominions ; and iit is to ba hoped that the present con- < fusion and anomalies will largely dis- ! appear. Much good will^be done, & dis- • tinct step towards true; unity of the Emj'pire will have been Vnade, by an enact- . ment tjiat residence m any part of the ' King's Dominions will be credited to an 'applicant for Imperial naturalisation. i W<_ shall still be a long way from j thorough ' unity, the. Times explains. . Some of tho Dominions and colonies j will certainly hold fast to their exclusive ; policy towards Asiatics. Their local laws '(.as to the franchise will be unto;. died, j The acquisition of Imperial natnralisa- ■ tion will not defeat or circumvent any j local laws. Nor will the Bill put an end I to the possibility of double nationality. i There is ho security that all foreign Go- | vernments will recognise the change, j Tliis country may accept a foreigner as •' a British subject without his native ; country surrendering some of its rights, j Tho principle underlying our law, nation- ■ ality according to place of birth, distinctly conflicts with that npon whicli j the . law of some countries is based, j Difficult questions will arise as to some jof our protectorates. But, with tha 'law altered m the manner indicated at the ■ Imperial Conference, tlie present con- . fusion will be lessened, there will be an j approach to real unity. Perhaps one day there may be attained some .higher unity • than any yet realised. In an interesting discussion on British citizenship which lately took place m 'the columns of United Empire, there emerged, more or less clearly, tl:'e con-; ooption of a relation to the Empire of all who. have thrown m their' lot with i it, of _ which "subject" is an inadequate! and unsuitable description. Sharora m a'i .- political organisation unique m history, ! ; not the-' loss, real: because falling within | j no familar.y category, old and yet grow, ing vigorously, with many new developments Imminent, we may one day work jout.a constitutional theory which will j reconcile Imperial unity with local-free- | dom, and make us all, dwellers at home jor m th© Dominions; British citizens m i a new sense.. j ' ,