Chapter XIV: Section 2: provides that the Secretary of State may grant a certificate

of naturalisation to any alien who shows

(a) That he has resided in His Majesty's dominions for a period of
not less than five years in the manner required by this section, or
been in the service of the Crown for not less than five years within
the last eight years before the application; and

(b) That he is of good character, and has an adequate knowledge of
the English language; and

(c) That he intends, if his application is granted, either to reside
in His Majesty's dominions, or to enter or continue in the service of
the Crown.

Paragraph (b), which is new, is certainly very valuable and it will be cordially approved. Hitherto, in the granting of naturalisation certificates, character and a knowledge of English were entirely disregarded. By means of the new provision we shall be able to shut out from British citizenship a large and exceedingly undesirable class of alien immigrants and render their deportation practicable in case of misbehaviour.

In the case of a woman who was a British subject before her marriage to an alien, and whose husband has died, or whose marriage has been dissolved, the requirements of this section as to residence are not to apply, and the Secretary of State may, in any other special case, grant a certificate of naturalisation, even though the four years' residence or five years' service has not been within the eight years immediately before the application for naturalisation. The provision as to the women is both humane and just. It will alleviate the hard lot of many Englishwomen who married Germans before the war, and whose cases under the old Act involved much unmerited hardship.