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Bth Day.] Natubalisation. [13 June, 1911. Mr. MALAN— cont. The second principle laid down by Sir Wilfrid Laurier was diversity of method, that is to say, we must leave to each individual self-governing part of the Empire the right to say under what conditions they will create British subjects. If you do not concede this, or if you override this principle by an Imperial Act, you will have very serious practical difficulties, and you will have the most serious constitutional difficulties. The practical difficulty will be that, supposing you decide to pass the Act, who must pass it ? If you ask the Imperial Parliament to pass it for the whole of the Empire and so override the local legislatures you will create difficulties. If you ask the local legislatures to pass a similar law you have this difficulty, that you cannot force the actual ipsissima verba Act through the local Parliaments. They must have the right to amend that Act, and as soon as you begin to amend a statute of that kind diversities will at once appear again. Then, there is this difficulty afterwards : How are you going to alter this law ? Supposing it is found that the law is not perfect and it has to be altered, you have no legislative power for the whole of the Empire by which you could satisfactorily deal with a question of that kind. Then you have the constitutional difficulty. The self-governing countries say : "We do not want to be overridden in our legislature by any other legislature in the world." But if you concede this principle of diversity of method, then it will apply to 99 per cent, of the British subjects that are created in the different Colonies, and the difficulty, if it is a difficulty at all, would only be as regards a few men who go from the one country to the other. I would then say " British subject anywhere, British subject everywhere," but subject to local laws. I have spoken about the registration of voters, and the qualification of men as voters. There is also the question of emigration. Being a British subject does not necessarily open the door to that British subject in any part of the Empire, and that principle of a Dominion, or any part of a Dominion, having the right to say what shall be the composition of its population is a principle which I think South Africa will maintain to the last. Provided that it is clearly understood, and clearly expressed, that " British subject anywhere, British subject everywhere " means subject to the local laws which obtain as regards the rights of British subject whether of citizenship or of admittance into a country, we think that the principles as laid down by Sir Wilfrid Laurier are correct and sound ones. Mr CHURCHILL : Gentlemen, I think the statements of opinions which have already been made to the Conference reveal the very great possibility of agreement being reached upon this subject, and they also reveal the great importance of the question. Sir Wilfrid Laurier referred to the fact that 100,000 emigrants enter Canada every year, the greater part of whom seek certificates of naturalisation at the earliest moment, and that this great body of persons, rapidly increasing in numbers, are in a wholly anomalous position outside Canada, whether they go to other parts of the British Empire or to the Mother Country, or go into foreign countries. This must, I am sure, bring to the Conference a realisation of the importance and the significance which this question has already attained. There is no doubt that the importance of the question of uniformity in naturalisation is going to grow ; it grows with every development in the wealth and prosperity of the Dominions, with every improvement in locomotion, with every extension of the affairs of persons resident in the Dominions to all parts of the world. Therefore, I welcome with the greatest satisfaction the strong statements made by every one of the representatives of the Dominions present here to-day in favour of the desirability of securing a uniform and world-wide status of British citizenship which shall protect the holder of that certificate wherever he may be, whether he be within the British Empire or in foreign countries. Now, I do not think I need dwell on the inconveniences of the present system. To the Dominions they are much greater than they are to the Mother Country, because, as a matter ofjfact,fat the present time the Dominions do as a matter of courtesy, or even as a matter ofjright under local statutes, accept as current our naturalisation certificates issued in this country, though we are unable at present (except as a matter of courtesy solely), to recognise theirs. Of course, the inter-