H—22

The Gaining Amendment Act, 1949, made several important changes in the law relating to raffles. Major changes are : (1) Real and personal property may now be raffled. Formerly, licences to raffle were issued only in respect of works of art and mineral specimens. (2) Authority is given to any Superintendent or Inspector of Police or any member of the Police Force authorized by such Superintendent or Inspector to issue raffle licences where an individual prize does not exceed £lO in value, and where the total value of the prize does not exceed £25. Any Superintendent or Inspector of Police or any member of the Police Force authorized by such Superintendent or Inspector may from time to time approve organizations to conduct raffles provided the value of the prizes in any raffle does not exceed £5. XIII. PASSPORTS New passports totalling 10,357 were issued, and 203 renewals were granted where the traveller was already in possession of a passport. During the year, authority for the issue and renewal of New Zealand passports was granted to the Charge d'Affaires, New Zealand Legation, Paris, and to the New Zealand Trade Commissioner at Bombay. XIV. NATURALIZATION, NATIONALITY, AND CITIZENSHIP The following shows the number of applications granted under the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act, 194-8, during the year under review Naturalization certificates granted .. .. .. .. 139 Registrations of alien married women .. .. .. 60 Registrations of British subjects as New Zealand citizens .. 25 Registrations of alien minor children .. .. .. 13 Facilities are now available at New Zealand overseas posts for persons with claims to New Zealand citizenship and resident abroad to apply for citizenship by registration. A small number of applications mainly from wives of New Zealand citizens have been received and dealt with. Arrangements are being completed to provide for the registration of the births and deaths of New Zealand citizens in foreign countries. XV. TRANSLATION SERVICE In the past all translation work for Government Departments was carried out on a part-time basis by the then Naturalization Officer. The demand for translations, however, has been increasing steadily for some years and the volume of work finally grew to such an extent that a full-time translator had to be appointed. The increased demand for translation has arisen particularly in the technical and scientific fields. Research being world wide, a specialist can only keep up to date, especially in a geographically isolated country like New Zealand, by being able to read also material published in foreign languages. All correspondence in foreign languages addressed to any Department of the Government in New Zealand, including Departments not under Commission control, is handled by the Translation Service. In addition, any documents in foreign languages received 3—H 22

37