CO885-(16-18) — Page 15

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.885

Reference :-

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

1683

REPORT.

In our opinion the legislation suggested would not satisfy the conditions in the Imperial Act and therefore would not justify the issue of an Order in Council under

the Act.

We think that the Imperial Act cannot be applied unless the local Acts give power to recognise as sufficient notice within the Colony a certificate issued in the United Kingdom.

It is not easy to find a convenient method of meeting the difficulty. It would appear to be necessary :-

1. That the local Legislature should pass legislation requiring in the case of marriages in a Colony where one party is resident in the United Kingdom the publication of banns or notice with a proviso that a certificate issued in the United Kingdom as described in the Act shall be recognised as sufficient notice, or

2. That the Imperial Act should be amended so as to enable Orders in Council

to be made where the local law requires no notice.

Law Officers' Department,

7th January, 1916.

FREDERICK SMITH. GEO. CAVE.

35673

No. 196. B

(CANADA: NEWFOUNDLAND.)

COLONIAL OFFICE to LAW OFFICERS.

[Adoption of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act by Canada and Newfoundland.]

GENTLEMEN,

Cd. 5745.

Cd. 5746.

Downing Street, 13 September, 1915.

I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Bonar Law to request that you will favour

Secretary of State to Governor-General,

10th June, 1914. Governor-General, 11th June, 1914.

Secretary of State, 1st July, 1914. Governor-General, 7th July, 1914. Secretary of State, 20th August, 1914. Canadian Naturalisation Act, 1914. Amending Act, 1914. Newfoundland Naturalisation Act, 1915.

►

him with your opinion on certain points which have arisen in connection with the Canadian Naturalisation Acts of 1914, and the New- foundland Naturalisation Act of 1915,

2. The question of naturalisation was discussed at the Imperial Conference of 1911,

and an agreement was then arrived at with the Governments of the self-governing Dominions as to the basis of a system of Imperial natura- lisation. I am to call attention to the discus- sion at pp. 249-271 of the Minutes of the Pro- ceedings of the Conference ([Cd. 5745], copy herewith), and to p. 253 of the Papers laid before the Conference (copy herewith), which contains the text of the draft British Nationality and Status of Aliens Bill which was prepared as a consequence of the resolution arrived at at the Conference.

3. The Bill was subsequently submitted to the Dominion Governments, and was criticised by the Canadian Government on the ground that it did not pay sufficient regard to the rights of the self-governing Dominions to legislate for themselves. The main suggestion made by the Canadian Government was that a provision should be inserted in the Bill (as laid before the Imperial Conference) stating that none of the provisions of the Act should have effect in any of the Dominions specified in the first schedule to the Act unless the Legislature of that Dominion should have adopted sub-section 1 of Section 3, and that none of the provisions of the Act should have any effect in any such Dominion after the adopting legislation should have been repealed by the said Legislature. While feeling some doubt with regard to the precise amendment suggested, His Majesty's Government accepted the view of the Canadian Government that so far as the Bill established a new kind of Imperial naturalisation, it should only be established in the self-governing Dominions by the Act of the Dominion Legislature, and that it should remain competent to the Dominion Legislature to repeal the legislation establishing Imperial naturalisation. With this purpose in view the Bill was recast so as to embody in a separate Part (Part II) all the provisions with regard to the naturalisation of aliens; Section 9 was added so as to provide for the adoption and rescission of the part of the Act in the Dominions by the local Legislatures.

4. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Bill so amended was intro- duced last year by His Majesty's Government, and was passed with certain further slight amendments which do not affect the points now at issue.. At the same time, a similar Bill was introduced in the Canadian Parliament and was passed before the passing of the Imperial Bill into law. This action raises the preliminary ques- tion whether in any event the Canadian Act can be regarded as having adopted the Imperial Act, having regard to the fact that the Imperial Act did not exist at the time the Canadian Act was passed. It will be observed, however, from the Governor-General's telegram of the 7th July, 1914, that the Government of Canada are advised that there is no force in this objection, since both measures were to come into force from the same date.

5. The Canadian Bill appeared, however, to raise other legal difficulties, dis- cussed in the enclosed telegraphic correspondence with the Governor-General, which it was proposed at the time to refer to the Law Officers; but it was decided to defer this step in consequence of the fact that the Imperial Bill had undergone certain amendments before being passed; and it was thought that as it would be necessary for the Canadian Act to be amended in consequence of these alterations, the oppor- tunity could be taken to remove the doubts which had arisen with regard to the effect of the original Canadian Act. The amending Canadian Act thus necessitated was

(7182-2.) Wt. 7-930, 28. 1'16 D&S G. 1.