In any further communication on this subject, please quote
No. T 9932/9932/378
and address-
not to any person by name,
but to-
The Under-Secretary of State,"
Foreign Office,
London, S.W.1.
RECEIVED 18 AUG 1931 COL. OFFICE
Com 70 less
15
31
FOREIGN OFFICE,
S.W.1.
17th August, 1931.
Sir,
I am directed by Mr. Secretary Henderson to
transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch from His
Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghai, regarding the
registration in the Consular Register of Births of
British Subjects of the births of the children of Omar
Abdool Madar, deceased, a British subject born in Hongkong,
and of his wife Sarah Madar.
2. The question whether the children born abroad of
British parents are entitled to be regarded as British
subjects depends in the first instance on the validity
of the marriage of their parents in British law. In this
case the marriage is stated to have been solemnised in
accordance with Mohamedan rites in Hongkong, but while
it seems probable from paragraph 3 of Mr. Brenan's despatch
that such marriages are accorded some measure of recognition
in Hongkong, Mr. Henderson would be glad if he could be
informed whether Mohamedan marriages are in fact recognised
as valid in the law of Hongkong.
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.
I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
2.9. How