CO885-(13-15) — Page 53

2172.

No. 110A.

(NEW ZEALAND.)

LAW OFFICERS to BOARD OF TRADE.

Opinion.

WE are of opinion that under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, section 18, a ship is qualified for registration under that Act if she is wholly owned by natural born British subjects, or persons naturalized either by Imperial or by any Colonial legislation, provided that such persons are resident in some part of Her Majesty's dominions, or are members of such a factory or partnership as in the section mentioned, and provided they have taken the oath of allegiance.

Without dealing with the various matters discussed in the memorandum of the Solicitor to the Board of Trade, we agree with his conclusion that section 14 of the Act of 1870 only applies to aliens who have not been naturalized.

Royal Courts of Justice, 26th January, 1888.-"

RICHARD E. WEBSTER. EDWARD CLARKE.

(Signed)

5

"1

R. S. WRIGHT,

PUBLIC

RELURU UPFICE | Reference :-

C.O.885

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

MEMORANDUM by SOLICITOR to the BOARD OF TRade.

I acted at once upon Lord Stanley's request, and arranged to submit to Mr. Wing- field a minute upon the subject discussed in these papers. I found subsequently that it, had a much wider scope than appears from Lord Carnarvon's circular of the 10th September, 1874, referred to in the despatch of the Acting Secretary of the Department of Trade and Customs at Wellington.

The question really is whether an alien, even when naturalized, is qualified to own a British ship. That question will be of great importance in the event of a war, and it underlies the particular point raised in the Wellington despatch. After considerable researches in the Law Society's Library I found that the text books on the subjects of Merchant Shipping and Naturalization threw no light whatever upon the point in question.*

The fundamental difficulty arises from the language of Section 14 of the Naturaliza- tion Act, 1870. That Act was passed in pursuance of the recommendations of a Royal Commission on the subject of Naturalization, and was clearly intended to remove as far as possible the romaining disabilities of aliens, and to confer upon them, with the ~ fewest possible exceptions, the same rights, powers and privileges as a natural born British subject. With respect to property, there is an express provision in Section 2 that real and personal property of every description may be taken, acquired, held and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural born British subject, provided, inter alia; (I) that this section shall not confor any right on an alien to hold real property situate out of the United Kingdom; (2) that this section shall not entitle an alien to any right or privilege as a British subject except such rights and privileges in respect of property as are hereby expressly given to him. The above section relates to aliens who are not naturalized.

The Statute then lays down the procedure by which an alien may, on adducing certain evidence to a Secretary of State, obtain a certificate of naturalization, and it is provided by Section 7 than an alien to whom a certificate of naturalization is granted shall in the United Kingdom be entitled to all political and other rights, powers and privileges, and be subject to all obligations, to which a natural born British subject is entitled or subject in the United Kingdom, with this qualification, that he shall not when within the limits of the foreign State of which he was a subject previously to obtaining his certificate of naturalization be deemed to be a British subject unless he has ceased to be a subject of that State in pursuance of the laws thereof or in pursuance of a treaty to that effect.

• In a certain aspect of it I have already dealt with it in my book on Wreck Inquiries, pp. 76, 80.

52950.-19. 25,--5/88.

A