EARL RUSSELLMy Lords, I rise to call attention to some incidents of naturalisation in the United Kingdom and in the Colonies, and to ask the Lord Chancellor whether he will introduce legislation with a view to removing doubts as to the effect of naturalisation and anomalies in the status of naturalised British subjects.
The Act of 1870, which deals with naturalisation in this country, has certain provisions for effecting the naturalisation of aliens in the United Kingdom, and it contains, among others, a provision, to which I take it there can be no exception, to the effect that the person so naturalised shall be entitled to all the rights, powers and privileges, and so on, to which a natural born British subject is entitled, with this qualification, that he 923 hall not within the limits of the foreign State of which he was a subject he deemed to be a British subject unless he has ceased to be a subject of that State. That avoids what might be unfortunate conflicts between the country of his origin and this country.
But the provision to which I wish to call your Lordships' attention is at the beginning of Section 7, to the effect that an alien who takes advantage of the Naturalisation Act will in the United Kingdom be entitled to all the rights, powers, and privileges, etc. On the face of it such a provision would appear to mean that he is not a British subject anywhere except in the United Kingdom, and the unfortunate person who has taken advantage of that Act is left in considerable uncertainty as to his status and nationality. Such a man would be a British subject in the United Kingdom but not in the country of his origin unless a treaty with that country allowed it. He may, and probably would, be a British subject in some other foreign country, but what is the status of this unfortunate person in any other part of British Possessions or in our Colonies? Is he a British subject in Australia, or in India; and, if he is not, what is he? That is a position which presents considerable difficulty.
The Acts of most of the Colonies contain similar provisions to the effect that the naturalisation shall only take effect within the limits of the Colony, and that a person naturalised in the Colony acquires the rights of a British subject only within the Colony, a sort of local naturalisation. What his status would be elsewhere is not denned. In these days, when we are anxious to draw our Colonies closer, this matter might be set right by some legislation providing that if a man is a British subject here he shall be a British subject throughout the British Empire. It was for the purpose of drawing attention to those anomalies that I placed this Notice on the Paper. It is desirable that the principle of Civis Romanus sum should extend throughout the Empire, and I desire to ask the Lord Chancellor whether he will introduce legislation with a view to removing doubts as to the effect of naturalisation and to set right these anomalies in the 924 status of naturalised British subjects. I can quite understand that it might not be possible to introduce legislation without consulting the Colonies, but I think the matter is one which should receive immediate attention.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord LOREBURN)My Lords, the Question which the noble Earl has asked relates to a most complicated subject. A study of the laws of marriage and of naturalisation together is enough to drive an ordinary person to distraction. In regard to the question of naturalisation, I admit there are undoubted anomalies such as the noble Earl has referred to. A person naturalised as a British subject within the United Kingdom may, according to some opinions, be considered a British subject all the world over, but if naturalised in one of our Colonies that naturalisation only takes effect within the limits of the area of that particular Colony. That is, of course, a very great anomaly, and is fatal to the idea of unity of citizenship within the British dominions.
Of course, the first and obvious suggestion would be to pass a law authorising naturalisation all over the British dominions to any person naturalised in any part of those dominions. That seems very nice in theory, but in practice it cannot be done. In Australasia, for instance, it has been resolved to have a white Australia, and Australia will not accept the naturalisation of a coloured person naturalised in any other part of the British dominions. And so it is in New Zealand. This is only one of the multitude of difficulties surrounding the question and practically bringing about an impasse.
In the circumstances the noble Earl will not be surprised if I say that the Government have no immediate intention of introducing legislation on the subject. I may, however, inform the noble Earl that this matter was brought before the Colonial Conference, and, after some discussion—not very much—during which the difficulties mentioned by the noble Earl were referred to, it was agreed that there should be a subsidiary conference for the purpose of considering the whole of this intricate, difficult question, and to see whether anything could be done in 925 the direction of unifying the laws of naturalisation and common citizenship all over His Majesty's dominions. The matter stands in that position at present. I hope some good may arise from the deliberations of the subsidiary conference, but I can assure the noble Earl that no more thorny question could be imagined than that upon which it is about to embark.