Copy.
Enclosure 2.
55-
1. Every person born in Hong Kong since it became British territory is, by virtue of his birth within the British dominions, a British subject in the fullest sense, irrespective of his race or parentage.
2.
A person of Chinese parentage born in Hong Kong is a natural-born British subject, and is as fully a British subject as if he had been born in England of English parents. In no case does the word "subject" in the term "British subject" connote any inferiority. English law does not recognise any class of colonial subjects.
3.- (a) The status of a person of Chinese parentage who is a British subject by virtue of his birth in Hong Kong is identical with that of a British subject who is such by virtue of his birth in England of English parents.
(b) The status of a Chinese who is a British subject by virtue of his naturalization under the provisions of the
IC 1922 British Nationality and Status of Aliens Acts, 1914 and 1918, is identical with the status of a natural-born British
subject, except of course that in certain circumstances his certificate of naturalization may be revoked. The Acts referred to above are enactments of the Imperial legislature, and this kind of naturalization is popularly known as
11
imperial naturalization".
(c) The status of a Chinese who has merely been
naturalized locally under the provisions of the Naturalizat- ion Ordinance, 1902, is identical with that of a natural-born British subject while the naturalized person is in Hong Kong. The Ordinance referred to above is an enactment of the
Hong Kong legislature, and this limited kind of naturalizat- ion is popularly known as "local naturalization".
4. The answer to this question depends upon how the status
was