THE HONGKONG
Government Gazette.
Published by Authority.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 4TH AUGUST, 1866.
VOL. XII.
No. 32.
No. 118.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Circular Despatch from The Right Honorable The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIS, respecting issue of British Passports for Foreign Travel to Persons Naturalized as British Subjects in the Colonies, is published for general information.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 1st August, 1866.
W. H. RENNIE, Acting Colonial Secretary.
CIRCULAR.
DOWNING STREET, 5th June, 1866. SIR,-Her Majesty's Government have had under their consideration certain applications that Foreigners Naturalized in one or other of Her Majesty's Colonies may be enabled, like Foreigners Naturalized in this Country, to obtain British Passports for Foreign Travel, with their attendant aivautages.
A Circular which Lord Clarendon has addressed to Her Majesty's Ministers and Consular Officers abroad, and of which I enclose a Copy, will show you the extent to which Passports granted under the authority to be conferred upon you by his Despatch will be available for the holders in Countries beyond Her Majesty's Dominions.
meut.
I have now to authorize you to issue Passports to Persons Naturalized as British Subjects in the Colony under your govern- In exercising this authority care must be taken that every Passport is signed by the Oficer administering the Government, that it contains an express declaration that the Person receiving it is Naturalized as a British Subject in the Colony under your government, sud that it states the period for which it is available, which must not exceed twelve months from the date of issue. A Memoranduin on a separate Paper should be given with each Passport, stating that it may be exchanged in London for a Foreign Office Passport on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but that it will not be renewed at any of Her Majesty's Missions or Consulates abroad but only at the Foreign Office in London, except under the especial circumstances stated in the Foreign Office Circular, when it may be exchanged once for all at any of those Missions or Consulates for a Passport strictly limited to such a length of time as will enable the bearer to reach England or any of Her Majesty's Possessions abroad, and that the Passport will not confer on the bearer any claim to British protection in the Country of his Birth.
I annex Form of Passport which may be adopted, and of the Memorandum which should be given with it.-I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
EDWARD CARDWELL.
Governor Sir R. G. MacDonnell, C.B.,
Se.. &c., fc.
CIRCULAR,
FOREIGN OFFICE, May 21st, 1866.
I have to acquaint you that I have arranged with the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department that I should send instructions to Her Majesty's Ministers and Consuls abroad, directing them to extend to persons Naturalized in British Colonies, and holders of Passports either from the Colonial Governors or from the Foreign Office, bearing on the face of them the place of Naturalization and the period for which the Passports are good, the same protection during that period as they are now in the habit of extending to persons holding Passports in which they are described as "Naturalized British subjects."
I have to instruct you to act in conforinity with this arrangement.
You will understand that Passports granted to persons Naturalized in the Colonies, like Passports granted to Naturalized British subjects generally, cannot as a general rule, be renewed by any of Her Majesty's Ministers or Consuls abroad; but in nee to alleve any such persons from inconvenience in case they should have remained abroad beyond the time specified in eir Pasports, you are authorized in any such cases to give such parties, in exchange for their original Passports, Passports pictly limited to the time required for a direct journey back to the United Kingdom, or to any of Her Majesty's Possessions abroad; but no second Passport of the same kind must be given, without the case being submitted to this Office, to a person who shall appear to have prolonged his stay beyond that liinit.---I am, with great truth, Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) CLARENDON.
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