§ THE EARL OF SELBORNE rose to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can give any information as to the present position of the question of naturalisation which was discussed at the last meeting of the Imperial Conference.
§ The noble Earl said: My Lords, at the last meeting of the Imperial Conference this question of naturalisation was dealt with and much public interest was excited in the matter; and no wonder, because I do not think the noble Lord who represents the Colonial Office will contradict me when I say that the naturalisation laws of the Empire are in a state of chaos. It is quite impossible for any ordinary man to know where he is naturalised and where he is not. For instance, drawing on my South African experience, I remember that a man who had been naturalised in Cape Town was not naturalised either in England or in the Transvaal. It is a very pretty conundrum, When is a man a British subject and when is he not. Therefore it was with great satisfaction that those of us who are interested in this subject saw it alluded to in one of his Majesty's Speeches from the Throne at the opening of either last session or the session before. But since that time we have heard nothing further about it, and I should be very glad if the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies could inform the House how the question now stands, and whether there is any hope of His Majesty's Government being able before long to lay before the country the solution to which the Empire, I hope, will have agreed.
591§ *LORD EMMOTTMy Lords, I am sure we shall all agree with the noble Earl that the question of naturalisation is a very important one, and that it is at present in a state of chaos. Practically a system of Imperial naturalisation applicable to the whole of the Empire does not exist. The subject was discussed, as the noble Earl has stated, in 1911, and a general agreement on the principles of a measure was arrived at and recorded in a series of resolutions. But this matter, when you come to details and to the drafting of a Bill, takes considerable time to settle, inasmuch as correspondence is somewhat lengthy when it must be carried on with Dominions at the other side of the globe. All I can say at the moment is that correspondence on the re-drafted Bill is still proceeding, and that we hope there will soon be complete agreement. At the moment I cannot go into details, and I do not think it would be convenient or for the public good that I should do so. All I can say is that we hope very soon to produce an agreed-upon Bill.