§ Mr. Wallasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the Passport Office's actions regarding the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. C. Paget, of Rhodesia.
§ Mr. KershawUnder the law of Southern Rhodesia, the appointment of a minister of religion as a marriage officer is a Ministerial act. In the absence there of lawful ministers since the illegal declaration of independence, no legal appointments of ministers of religion as marriage officers can be made in accordance with the law of Southern Rhodesia. Consequently the validity of marriages performed by persons appointed since the468W illegal declaration of independence is in serious doubt.
In the absence of evidence that the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Paget in Southern Rhodesia was performed by a minister of religion who was appointed a marriage officer before the illegal declaration of independence, the Passport Office were precluded by their instructions from accepting that Mrs. and Mrs. Paget possessed the evidence of marriage required for the issue of a joint passport and suggested a further marriage ceremony in this country. Although a case similar to that of Mr. Paget has yet to come before the courts in this country, the Passport Office's instructions are in accordance with what Her Majesty's Government believe to be the correct view of the legal position.