I Peace settlement. I hope that the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and Newfoundland, as well as representatives of India, will be able to visit this country during the coming summer. am confident that the discussions to take place during their visits will be of the utmost value in bringing about co-ordination both in the external and internal policy of the Empire. Members of the House of Commons, The estimates for the Services in the coming year will be laid before you in due course, and these estimates will reflect the determination of the Government to reduce expenditure to the lowest level consistent with the well-being of the Empire. The war has left upon the nation liabilities which can only be met by heavy taxation, but it is imperative in the interest of an early revival of trade and industry that this burden should be reduced to the utmost. My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, A The situation in Ireland still causes me distress. misguided section of the Irish people persist in resorting to methods of criminal violence with the object of establishing an independent republic. Neither Irish unity nor Irish selfgovernment can be attained by this means. The arrangements for bringing into force the Government of Ireland Act are now well advanced, and I earnestly trust that in the near future the majority of the people will show their determination to repudiate violence and to work an Act which confers upon them the responsibilities of self-government and provides the machinery whereby they can attain to Irish unity by constitutional means. In view of the onerous programme of legislation which was set before you during last year, it is the intention of my Ministers to lighten as far as possible the business of the coming Session. The most pressing problem which confronts you is that of unemployment, consequent upon a world-wide restriction of trade, and this may be alleviated, but cannot be cured, by legislative means. This problem, with its acute and distressing consequences for hundreds of thousands of our fellow-citizens, is receiving the constant and anxious attention of my Ministers with the object both of reviving trade and prosperity and in the meantime of assisting those who are unfortunately unemployed. You will be invited to pass a Bill extending the provision which is made for the unemployed under the Unemployment Insurance Act. A measure will also be introduced into the House of Commons to deal with the safeguarding of essential key industries of the country and with certain aspects of unfair and abnormal industrial competition. I earnestly trust that these efforts will be seconded by loyal and frank co-operation between employers and employed, for it is through the co-operation of capital and labour in a spirit of mutual trust and confidence that an early solution of this grave problem is to be found. It is proposed that the forthcoming removal of control over the home price and export quantities of coal shall be followed at the earliest possible moment by the complete restoration of the industry to its normal condition of freedom. In accordance with the intention expressed in the Ministry of Transport Act, a Bill will be submitted to you for the reorganisation of the railways of Great Britain. Bills will be laid before you dealing with the completion of land purchase in Ireland, and also for facilitating Church union in Scotland. A Bill will also be presented dealing with the sale of alcoholic liquor in the light of the experience gained during the war. My Ministers further trust that the work of the Committee now examining the question of the Reform of the Second Chamber will be finished in time to permit of proposals being submitted to Parliament during the course of the present Session. And I pray the blessing of Almighty God rest upon your deliberations. BRITISH REGULATIONS amending Regulation 13 (Fees) of "The British Nationality and Status of Aliens (India) Regulations, 1916."-London, March 17, 1921.* IN the exercise of the powers conferred on me by The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914," I, the Right Honourable Edwin Samuel Montagu, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, hereby make the iollowing Regulations: 1. The following Regulation shall be substituted for Regulation 13 of "The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Regulations (India), 1916," which is hereby cancelled : 13. The following fees may be taken and shall be applied in the manner hereinafter shown:: Statutory Rules and Orders, 1921, No. 528. + Vol. CVIII, page 8. TABLE OF FEES. The matter in which the Fee The grant of a certificate of naturalisa- The grant of a certificate of naturalisa- Administering the oath of allegiance. Of the fee of 100 rupees payable in respect of the grant of a certificate of naturalisation, 15 rupees shall be payable on the submission of the application for a certificate and shall in no circumstances be returned; the remaining 85 rupees shall be payable on the receipt of the decision to grant a certificate. 2. Copies of The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Regulations (India)" printed after the date of these Regulations may be printed with the foregoing Regulation in substitution for the Regulation 13 hereby cancelled. 3. These Regulations may be cited as "The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Regulations (India), 1921," and The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Regulations (India) as amended by these Regulations may be cited as "The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Regulations (India)." 4. These Regulations shall come into force on the 1st May, 1921. Whitehall, March 17, 1921. E. S. MONTAGU, ACT of the British Parliament to provide for the application of part of the purchase price of imported German goods towards the discharge of the obligations of Germany under the Treaty of Versailles. [11 Geo. V, c. 5.] [March 24, 1921.] BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in the present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1.-(1.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, after the 31st day of March, 1921, on the importation into the United Kingdom of any German goods to which this Act applies, the importer shall pay to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise (hereinafter referred to as the Commissioners) such proportion of the value of the goods, not exceeding 50 per cent., as the Treasury may from time to time prescribe: Provided that this Act shall not apply to goods imported before the 15th day of April, 1921, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that the goods are imported in pursuance of a contract entered into before the 8th day of March, 1921. (2.) The payment of any sum to the Commissioners under this section shall, up to the amount of the payment, operate as a good discharge to the person by or on whose behalf the payment is made as against the person to whom the purchase price of the goods in question is due; and the receipt of the Commissioners shall be conclusive evidence of such payment. (3.) The Commissioners shall pay all moneys received by them under this section into such special account as the Treasury may direct to be applied in such manner as the Treasury may direct towards the discharge of the obligations undertaken by Germany under Parts VIII* and IX of the Treaty of Versailles. 2. The German goods to which this Act applies are goods first consigned from Germany to the United Kingdom, and goods not so consigned being goods wholly or partially manufactured or produced in Germany, unless, in the case of goods partially manufactured or produced in Germany, 25 per cent. or more of the value of the goods is attributable to processes of manufacture undergone since the goods last left Germany: Provided that, subject to compliance with such conditions as to security for re-exportation of the goods as the Commissioners may impose, this Act shall not apply to goods * Vol. CXII, page 104. + Vol. CXII, page 122. imported for exportation after transit through the United Kingdom, or by way of transhipment. 3. (1.) The value of any imported goods shall for the purposes of this Act be taken to be the amount which an importer would give for the goods, including the sum payable to the Commissioners under this Act, if the goods were delivered to him at the place of importation, freight and insurance being payable by him, and for the purpose of ascertaining the amount to be paid under this Act to the Commissioners that value shall be fixed by them: Provided that, in the case of goods proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to be goods brought back into the United Kingdom after having been exported therefrom for the purpose of undergoing any process in Germany, the value of the goods for the purposes of this Act shall be taken to be such value as aforesaid after deducting therefrom such amount as is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have been the value of the goods at the time of exportation, together with freight and insurance outwards, and the sum contracted to be paid for the execution of the process shall be deemed to be the purchase price. (2.) Without prejudice to the powers of the Commissioners under the foregoing sub-section, the sum stated in an invoice of goods imported on sale to be the price of the goods shall, if it includes the sum payable to the Commissioners under this Act, be primâ facie evidence of the value of the goods for the purposes of this Act. (3.) If in ascertaining the amount to be paid under this Act any dispute arises as to the value of the goods, such question shall be referred to a referee appointed by the Treasury, who shall not be an official of any Government Department, and the decision of the referee with respect to the matter in dispute shall be final and conclusive. (4.) Sections 30 and 31 of "The Customs Consolidation Act, 1876," as set out and modified in the Schedule to this Act shall apply to disputes as to the sum payable to the Commissioners under this Act. (5.) It shall be lawful for the Commissioners in the case of any goods to require the importer to furnish particulars in the prescribed manner as to the country from which the goods were first consigned or as to the country of manufacture or production of the goods, and if the particulars are not furnished to the satisfaction of the Commissioners the goods shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be goods first consigned from Germany, or, as the case may be, wholly manufactured or produced in Germany. (6.) Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that, by reason of any payment or advance made, consideration given, or obligation undertaken, before the 8th |