§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will consider the advisability of keeping a record of the number of seamen naturalised in this country under the regulations issued on the 4th August last showing their country of origin, their length of service in the British Mercantile Marine, with, if possible, a note of such as have acquired a domicile in the United Kingdom.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) A record of the aliens to whom the Secretary of State has granted certificates of naturalisation is kept in the Home Office in such a manner that the seamen to whom the right hon. Baronet refers are distinguished from other aliens. This record shows the country of origin, and in the case of seamen the sea-service and the residence in the United Kingdom (for five out of eight years previous to the application for a certificate) required for the purposes of naturalisation. I do not think that any useful object would be gained by elaborating the record further.