CO129-529-6 Miscellaneous 24-6-1931 - 31-12-1931 — Page 31

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