§ Clause 5, page 4, line 21, leave out ("as aforesaid") and insert ("therefor to the Secretary of State in the prescribed manner, and, if she is a British protected person or an alien, on taking an oath of allegiance in the form specified in the Schedule (Oath of Allegiance) to this Act").
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in this Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
THE EARL OF PERTHMy Lords, this Amendment was introduced in another place; it was not in the original Bill. Up to now it may have been, and I think probably it was, too easy for an alien woman to acquire British nationality by marriage. On the other hand—and I hope that the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor will agree—we ought not to make it in any way too difficult. To do so would be to penalise a large number of innocent people because of the guilt of a few. I have no objection at all to the principle of the Amendment, but I would like the noble and learned Viscount to give me an assurance that the procedure will be made as simple and cheap, and above all as speedy, as possible, so that the Amendment will not entail any delay in the grant of British nationality in cases where it may properly be granted.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORI have gone into this matter, and I am able to give the noble Earl in the fullest manner the assurance for which he asks. We have no desire to penalise a large number of innocent people for the sake of a 1188 guilty few, but we felt that it was only right that these women should go through the form of taking the Oath of Allegiance (it is set out in the Schedule) to impress on them a sense of the obligation which they are incurring when they owe allegiance to the King, and that they should swear to be faithful to that allegiance. I give the noble Earl in the fullest degree the assurance for which he asks.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.