§ No certificate of naturalisation shall for a period of five years after the termination of the present War be granted to a subject of any State now at war with His Majesty.—[Mr. Stewart.]
§ Brought up, and read the first time.
§ Mr. STEWARTI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a second time."
This new Clause merely expresses a wish that after the War is over we might be allowed a certain breathing space in which we could settle our domestic affairs by ourselves. We think it would be advisable that there should be an interval before we proceed to absorb foreign elements into our ranks. We have been so easy-going in the past that we have enlisted a large number of undesirable people. I remember going through an election not long ago in the East End of London, where I found that the political addresses and voting cards were printed in a foreign language. If we put in an interval of five years it would give some of those people who want to be British subjects an opportunity of at least learning the language of the country. With regard to the chief of our enemies, after the War is over, we do not wish to trade with them, see them, or have anything to do with them, and we certainly do not want to take them into the brotherhood of citizenship.
§ Sir G. CAVEIn principle I quite agree with my hon. and learned Friend, but I am rather afraid of the form of the Amendment. We have adopted at the Home Office a decision that as a matter of discretion no German shall be naturalised for five years after the War. That is the general recommendation which we propose to follow, as well as other rules of administration which I need not indicate now. But under this new Clause we could not naturalise a British-born widow; we could not naturalise a Czech, a Pole, an Alsatian, an Armenian, or the members of any other friendly race. I am afraid to adopt the particular form of this 1191 Amendment, but, while without it I should be free to naturalise the people I have indicated belonging to friendly races, I do not intend to grant certificates to enemy subjects for the period I have mentioned.
§ Motion and Clause, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Colonel GRETTONBefore the Amendment is withdrawn—
§ The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (Sir D. Maclean)The Motion has been withdrawn by leave of the Committee.
§ General HICKMANOn a point of Order. May I point out that the hon. and gallant Member rose before the Motion was withdrawn?
§ The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANThat may be, but I did not see him.
§ Colonel GRETTONOn a point of Order. I endeavoured to attract your attention, but I regret I did not succeed in doing so. All I desired to remark was—
§ The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANI cannot allow the hon. Member to proceed in view of the clear ruling of the Chair that the Motion had been withdrawn before I saw the hon. Member.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERThe form in which I wish to propose the Clause which stands in my name—(Status of Women in Certain Cases)—is slightly different from that in which it appears on the Paper. It makes no difference to the substance, but makes it a little narrower. The form in which I wish to move it is a follows:
A natural-born British woman who before the War married a subject of the countries now at War with His Majesty—
§ The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANI cannot accept a manuscript Clause until I have been through the Clauses printed on the Paper. I must therefore call on the hon. and gallant Member for Enfield.