NATURALIZATION.

Tuapeka Times, Issue 432, 6 February 1875, Page 3

NATURALIZATION.

We extract the following from a despatch of the Secretary of State to his Excellency the Governor which appears in the " New Zealand Gazette :" -

"In consequence of an application made to this office by a gentleman naturalized in 1873 in this country, to be allowed the rights and privileges of a British subject in Gibralter, the opinion of the Law-officers of the Crown has been taken as to whether certificates of naturalization granted iv the United Kingdom extend to the colonies. "2. The Act 7 and 8 Viet. (1844), c. G6, sec. 6, provided that upon obtaining the certificate, and taking the oath therein mentioned, every alien then residing in, or who should thereafter come to, reside in, any part of Great Britain or Ireland, should enjoy all the rights of a British subject. The Act 10 and 11 Viet. c. 83, sec. , expressly enacted that the above Act of 1844 should not extend to the colonies. The Act 33 Viet. (1870), c. 14, sec. 7, enacted that an alien to whom a Certificate of Naturalisation should be granted, should, in the United Kingdom, be entitled to all political and other rights, &c., of a British subject. " 3 Her Majesty's Government are advised that the operation of the above enactments is clearly confined to the United Kingdom, and that a Certificate of Naturalization, granted under either of the Acts of 1844 or 1870, confers upon an alien no rights or privileges in a British colony. "4. As this subject is one of general interest, and with a view to remove any doubts which may exist in the colony under your Government upon the poiut, I have thought it desirable that the state of the law should be made known in a Circular Despatch to all the colonies."

The Grand Duke Nicholas, nephew of the Emperor of Russia, who was convicted of stealing his mother's diamonds, is declared insane.