realm, so help me God; which oath shall be taken and subscribed by such memorialist, and shall be duly administered to him or her before the clerk of the council for these islands-if such oath shall be taken and subscribed in the island of New Providence or before any one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace for these islands or for any district thereof-if such oath shall be taken and subscribed at any other island of this government, and in the latter case the justice of the peace administering the oath shall grant to the person taking and subscribing it a certificate of his or her having taken and subscribed such oath accordingly.

V. And be it enacted, that all certificates granted under this act shall be recorded in the office of the public secretary and registrar of records for the colony.

VI. And be it enacted, that the fees payable in respect of the several proceedings hereby authorised shall be fixed and regulated by the governor in council and shall be paid into the public treasury of these islands in aid of the expenses of the government thereof.

VII. And be it enacted, that the word "governor" in this act shall extend and apply to the person lawfully administering the government of these islands for the time being, and the words" clerk of the council" shall extend and apply to the person discharging the duties of that office for the time being.

[35 Vict., Cap. 20.]

AN ACT SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE IMPERIAL STATUTE (33 VICT., c. 14),

TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO THE LEGAL CONDITION OF ALIENS AND BRITISH SUBJECTS."

(Assented to 23d May, 1872.)

Whereas in and by an act of the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, passed in the thirty-third year of Her Majesty's reign, designated "the naturalization act, 1870," provision is made for taking declaration of alienage and of British nationality and for granting certificates of readmission to British nationality, not only in the United Kingdom, but elsewhere in Her Majesty's dominions, and power is granted to certain judicial officers in the British possessions to take such declarations and to the governors of such possessions to grant such certificates.

And whereas the said act was amended by an act passed in the same year designated the naturalization oaths act, 1870, and the two acts are collectively designated the "naturalization acts, 1870."

And whereas an act was passed during the present session of assembly making provision for carrying into effect the said acts of Parliament, but in consequence of a clerical error in the engrossing thereof the meaning of its provisions is obscure and doubtful, and it is expedient that there should be further legislation on the subject,

• Text as printed in the Appendix to the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee. Parl. Pap. (1901), Cd. 723.

may it therefore please the Queen's most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by his honor Captain George Cumine Strahan, Royal Artillery, administrator of the government of the Bahama Islands, the legislative council and assembly of the said islands, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by the authority of the same, as follows:

I. The governor may, acting by and with the advice of Her Majesty's executive council, provide by regulations for the following

matters:

1. The registration in the office of the registrar of records of all declarations taken and certificates granted and oaths of allegiance administered in the colony under the said acts.

2. The proof in any legal proceedings of such oaths.

3. The persons by whom certified copies of such declarations, certificates, and oaths, and of entries of the same in such register, may be given.

4. The transmission to Her Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies, for the purpose of registration, or safe-keeping, or of being produced as evidence of any declaration taken, certificates granted, or oaths of allegiance administered in the colony under the said acts, or of any copies of such declarations, certificates, or oaths; also of copies of entries of such declarations, certificates, and oaths contained in such register as aforesaid.

5. The imposition and application of fees in respect of any such registration, and in respect of the taking of any such declaration, or the grant of any such certificate, or the administration of any such oath, and in respect of certified copies of any such declaration, certificate, or oath.

II. The act heretofore passed during the present session and hereinbefore referred to is hereby repealed, and it shall not be necessary to chapter or print the same among the acts of this session or otherwise.

BARBADOS.

Mr. Clare, consul at Barbados, to the Assistant Secretary of State, September 22, 1906.

AMERICAN CONSULATE,

Barbados, West Indies, September 22, 1906. SIR: Referring to the Department's circular of July 9, 1906, entitled "Citizenship," I have the honor to say that it will be sufficient to refer to the British imperial naturalization act of 1870 (33 and 34 Vict., c. 14), which governs in this colony. There are no local laws relating to naturalization and the acquisition of citizenship in this island, the act above quoted governing in all cases.

I have, etc.,

ARTHUR J. CLARE,
American Consul.

BERMUDA.

[Enclosures in despatch from Mr. Heyl, vice and deputy consul at Hamilton, Bermuda, September 14, 1906.]

[1857.-No. 11.]

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS IN FORCE IN THESE ISLANDS RELATING TO ALIENS.

Whereas it is expedient that the laws now in force in these, Your Majesty's, Bermuda or Somers Islands affecting aliens should be amended, and that Your Majesty should be enabled to grant to aliens the rights and capacities of British subjects in these islands under such regulations and with such restrictions and exceptions as are hereinafter provided, and whereas by an act of the Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland passed in the session holden in the tenth and eleventh years of Your Majesty's reign, it is, among other things, enacted and declared that all laws, statutes, and ordinances which should thereafter be made and enacted by the legislatures of any of Your Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad for imparting to any person or persons the privileges of naturalization to be by such person or persons exercised and enjoyed within the limits of any such colonies and possessions, respectively, should within such limits have the force and authority of law, any law, statute, or usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding:

I. We therefore, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the legislative council of these, Your Majesty's, Bermuda or Somers Islands, do most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by Your Majesty's governor, council, and assembly, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by the authority of the same, that every person now born, or hereafter to be born, out of Her Majesty's dominions, of a mother being a natural-born subject of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall be capable of taking to him, his heirs, executors, or administrators, any estate in the said islands, real or personal, by devise or purchase or inheritance of succession.

II. And be it enacted, that from and after the commencement of this act every alien being the subject of a friendly state shall and may take and hold, by purchase, gift, bequest, representation, or otherwise, every species of personal property in the said islands, except chattels real, as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes, and with the same rights, remedies, exemptions, privileges, and capacities as if he were a natural-born subject of the United Kngdom.

III. And be it enacted, that every alien who at the time of the commencement of this act shall be residing in, or who shall thereafter come to reside in, any part of the said islands, and being the subject of a friendly state, may, by grant, lease, demise, assignment, bequest, representation, or otherwise, take and hold any lands, houses, or other tenements, for the purpose of residence or of occupation by him or his servants, or for the purpose of any business, trade, or manufacture, for any term of years, not exceeding twentyone years, as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes, and

H. Doc. 326, 59-2—24

with the same rights, remedies, exemptions, and privileges as if he were a natural-born subject of the United Kingdom.

IV. And be it enacted, that upon obtaining the certificate and taking the oath hereinafter prescribed, every alien who at the time of the commencement of this act shall be residing in, or who shall thereafter come to reside in, the said islands, with intent to settle in the said islands, shall enjoy all the rights and capacities in the said islands which a natural-born subject of the United Kingdom can enjoy or transmit, except that such alien shall not be capable of becoming a member of the council in the said islands nor a member of the house of assembly in the said islands nor of enjoying such other rights and capacities (if any) as shall be specially excepted in and by the certificate to be granted in manner hereinafter mentioned.

V. And be it enacted. that it shall be lawful for any such alien as aforesaid to present to the governor of the said islands a memorial stating the age, profession, trade, or other occupation of the memorialist and the duration of his residence in the said islands, and all other the grounds on which he seeks to obtain any of the rights and capacities in the said islands of a natural-born British subject, and praying the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council for the said islands, to grant to the memorialist the certificate hereinafter mentioned.

VI. And be it enacted, that every such memorial shall be considered by the said governor in council, and the said governor in council shall inquire into the circumstances of each case and receive all such evidence as shall be offered by affidavit or otherwise as the said governor in council may deem necessary or proper for proving or disproving the truth of the allegations contained in such memorial, and that the said governor, if he shall so think fit, by and with the advice and consent of the said council, may issue a certificate under the great seal of the said islands, reciting such of the contents of the memorial as the said governor, by and with the advice and consent aforesaid, shall consider to be true and material and granting to the memorialist (upon his taking the oath hereinafter prescribed) all the rights and capacities in the said islands of a natural-born British subject, except the capacity of being a member of the council in the said islands or a member of the house of assembly in the said islands, and except the rights and capacities (if any) specially excepted in and by the said certificate.

VII. And be it enacted, that such certificate, together with the form of oath hereinafter directed to be thereupon indorsed or thereto annexed shall be registered in the secretary's office in the said islands and shall be enrolled for safe custody, as of record, in Her Majesty's court of chancery in the said islands and may be inspected and copies thereof taken under such regulations as the said court shall direct.

VIII. And be it enacted, that within three calendar months from the day of the date of such certificate every memorialist to whom rights and capacities shall be granted by such certificate shall take and subscribe the following oath (that is to say):

I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and will defend her to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever which may be made against her person, Crown, or dignity, and I will do my utmost endeavour to

disclose and make known to Her Majesty, her heirs, and successors all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against her or them, and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend to the utmost of my power the succession of the Crown, which succession, by an act intituled "An act for the further limitation of the Crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject," stands limited to the Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants, hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the Crown of the realm of Great Britain and Ireland.

So help me God,

which oath shall be taken and subscribed by such memorialist and shall be duly administered to him before the governor of the said islands for the time being, who shall cause to be indorsed upon or annexed to the said certificate a memorandum in writing of such memorialist having taken and subscribed such oath accordingly, and such memorandum shall be signed by the governor before whom the said oath shall be administered, and in the event of the demise of the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland it shall be lawful to insert in the form of the oath the name of the King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the corresponding references thereto, instead of the name of Her most Gracious Majesty and the references thereto, as specified in the foregoing form of oath.

IX. And be it enacted, that the several proceedings hereby authorised to be taken for obtaining such certificate as aforesaid, shall be regulated in such manner as the governor in council shall from time to time direct.

X. And be it enacted, that all persons who shall have been naturalized in the said islands before the commencement of this act, and who shall have resided in the said islands during five successive years, shall be deemed entitled to and shall enjoy all such rights and capacities of British subjects in the said islands as may be conferred on aliens by the provisions of this act.

XI. Provided always, and be it enacted, that nothing in this act contained shall prejudice, or be construed to prejudice, any rights or interests in law or in equity, whether vested or contingent, under any will, deed, or settlement executed by any natural-born subject of Great Britain or Ireland before the commencement of this act, or under any descent or representation from or under any such naturalborn subject who shall have died before the commencement of this

act.

XII. And be it enacted, that nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to take away or diminish any right, privilege, or capacity heretofore law fully possessed by or belonging to aliens residing in the said islands so far as relates to the possession or enjoyment of any real or personal property in the said islands, but that all such rights shall continue to be enjoyed by such aliens in as full and ample a manner as such rights were enjoyed before the passing of this act.

XIII. And be it enacted, that any woman married or who shall be married to a natural-born subject or person naturalized shall be deemed and taken to be herself naturalized and have all the rights and privileges in the said islands of a natural-born subject.