29

A.—2

2. Permission given by Warrant under the Royal sign-manual will enable the insignia of the foreign order to be worn at all times and without any restriction. Private permission will only enable the insignia to be worn on the occasion specified in the terms of the letter from the King's Private Secretary conveying the Royal sanction. 3. The full and unrestricted permission by Warrant under the Royal sign-manual is designed, subject to the exception mentioned in Rule 4 (a) respecting British naval or military officers during hostilities, to meet cases where the decoration may be said to have been earned by some valuable service rendered to the head of the State conferring it, or to the State itself. The private or restricted permission is contemplated for decorations which are more or less of a complimentary character. In either case the matter will be submitted to the King by His Majesty's Principal Secretary of Stat* for Foreign Affairs.'' 4. Full and unrestricted permission by Warrant under the Royal sign-manual is contemplated in the following cases :— For a decoration conferred — (a.) On an officer in His Majesty's Naval or Military Forces lent to a foreign Government; on an officer in His Majesty's Naval or Military Forces attached by his Government to a foreign navy or army during hostilities ; or on any British official lent to a foreign Government, and not in receipt of any emoluments from British public funds during the period of such loan. (6.) On any person not at the time in the service of the Crown who, while himself outside the limits of His Majesty's dominions, has rendered valuable services to the head of the State conferring the order, or to the State itself, within the period of two years immediately preceding the notification of the decoration to His Majesty's Government provided for in Rule 5. The term " service of the Crown " (supra) comprises any person holding a Royal Commission, or any person in receipt of a salary from public funds in the United Kingdom or in any British dominion, colony, or protectorate, (c.) On any British subject employed in a foreign embassy or legation in the United Kingdom. 5. The desire of the head of a foreign State to confer upon a British subject the insignia of an order, or the fact that he has done so, must be notified to his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs either through the British diplomatic representative accredited to the head of the foreign State, or through his diplomatic representative at the Court of St. James. His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs shall be under no obligation to consider claims that are not brought to his notice through one of these channels. 6. When His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs shall have taken the King's pleasure on any such application, and shall have obtained His Majesty's permission for the person in whose favour it has been made to wear the insignia of a foreign order, he shall signify the same to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department in order that he may cause a Warrant, if it be a case for the issue of a Warrant as defined in Rule 4, to be prepared for the Royal sign-manual. When such Warrant shall have been signed by the King, a notification thereof shall be inserted in the Gazette, stating the service for which the foreign order has been conferred. Persons in whose favour such Warrants are issued will be required to pay to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department a stamp duty of 10s. The Warrant signifying His Majesty's permission may, at the request and at the expense of the person who has obtained it, be registered in the College of Arms. Every such Warrant as aforesaid shall contain a clause providing that His Majesty's license and permission does not authorize the assumption of any style, appellation, rank, precedence, or privilege appertaining to a Knight Bachelor of His Majesty's realms. 7. When a British subject has received the Royal permission to accept the decoration of a foreign order, he will, at any future time, be allowed to accept the decoration of a higher class of the same order to which he may have become eligible by increase of rank in the foreign service, or in the service of his own country ; or any other distinctive mark of honour strictly consequent upon the acceptance of the original decoration, and common to every person upon whom such decoration is conferred. 8. Medals which constitute a particular class of a foreign order are subject in all respects to the above regulations in the same manner as higher grades of the order, except that permission to wear will be given by letter and not by Royal Warrant. The King's permission must be obtained for any other medal to be worn. No permission is needed to accept a foreign medal if it is not intended to be worn. 9. Naval and military attaches to His Majesty's missions abroad may, at the termination of their appointments, be given restricted private permission*to wear, on certain specific occasions, the insignia of a foreign order conferred upon them by the chief of the State only in which their headquarters were situated. Foreign Office, Bth May, 1911.

No. 39. New Zealand, No. 194. My Lord, — Downing Street, 2nd June, 1911, I have the honour to transmit to you, to be laid before your Minister* the accompanying copy of a letter from the Home Office on the subject of the offer of a prize of £1,000 for the best electric lamp or lamps for use in collieries.