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13 June, 1911.] Naturalisation. [Bth Day. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : The idea is this : that after a man who has obtained letters of naturalisation in any of the Dominions has five years' residence, under those letters of naturalisation he is entitled to be a British subject anywhere in the Empire. The CHAIRMAN : Yes, anywhere. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : But if he has been three years in Canada I would not should have Imperial letters of naturalisation if he goes to reside elsewhere in the British Empire. The CHAIRMAN : But that is for British purposes ; we are to be satisfied with five years in any part of the Empire. Mr. FISHER : If you would allow me to say so I am rather in a difficulty here. The suggestion now is that there must be five years after naturalisation. The CHAIRMAN: No. Sir JOSEPH WARD : I shall make it clear by legislation if it is not so. Mr. FISHER : You could put on to your dated naturalisation certificate the length of time the applicant had been in New Zealand, and that would count prior to the gi anting of the certificate, and the subsequent period would make up the five years. I see no difficulty at all now. The CHAIRMAN : They do not inquire in New Zealand as to his length of residence. Mr. FISHER : In my own State of Queensland, a foreigner, as we call them, coming to that State could apply the day he landed to be naturalised, and then six months afterwards they would grant his naturalisation. Sir JOHN SIMON : Then he would want four years and six months more. Sir JOSEPH WARD : It is only a matter of detail as to whether any of the Dominions remain without a fixed period of years or with a period of years. I believe, for the purpose of enabling us all to have a better understanding of what we are doing, it would be better if New Zealand fixed a term of a year or two as the case may be. We should not object to making it three years, the same as in Canada, because, as I have said, we keep some of our people out for more than twenty years. Although we have not a limit we do not allow them to get in in a hurry, they must have the proper qualifications. I wanted to say this particularly, Mr. Churchill, that as far as I am concerned I would infinitely prefer to see your proposed Bill. I believe without our going in the direction of saying that we affirm everything in the Bill, if we had the suggested Bill of Mr. Churchill with amendments on the lines suggested this morning, we might perhaps by way of suggestion be of some service in arriving at what we could all generally agree to, because, after all, you have to remember that the Imperial Bill is not going to supersede our power to legislate locally. It is not to supersede our power to keep out the alien, and it is not to supersede our power to keep out the coloured man, so that we remain perfectly free, but I think it would be a valuable thing if we could see the proposed Bill, and it might save a lot of time in bringing the system into operation throughout the Empire. Mr. CHURCHILL : I will ask them to begin drafting it at once. May I propose then to the Conference this resolution which I will read and embodying the difficult points ? " That the Conference approves the scheme of Imperial citizenship based on the following five propositions : (1) Imperial nationality should be worldwide and uniform, each Dominion being left free to grant local nationality on such terms as its Legislature thinks fit. (2) The Mother Country finds it necessary to