DHAP, III] THE CONFERENCE OF 1911 1531 
one Imperial and one limited to the Dominions—but he 
accepted fully that a British subject anywhere should be 
8 British subject everywhere, as laid down by Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier. The Imperial Government were not, however, able 
to accept the proposal as it stood! They laid stress on the 
period of five years which was required as a condition of 
naturalization in this country, and they felt that the road 
to British citizenship should not be made too easy. They 
recognized also in the fullest manner that there must be 
divergent conditions of naturalization in the several Domi- 
nions, and to obtain an Imperial naturalization it would be 
necessary to have two standards. They suggested, there- 
fore, that it should be open to any person who had obtained 
a certificate of local naturalization in any of the Dominions, 
and who had in addition resided for five years in any part 
of the Empire, to apply for a certificate of Imperial natura- 
lization. The application would be made through the re- 
sponsible minister of the Dominion in which the applicant 
resided, and if he endorsed the application, the certificate 
would be issued by the Governor-General or Governor. No 
doubt it would be possible that under this system a man who 
had been refused a local certificate in one Dominion might 
go to another Dominion and obtain Imperial naturalization 
therein, but any ill resuit could be avoided by a Dominion 
refusing to recognize the naturalization of a man who had 
once been refused naturalization therein, and Mr. Churchill 
thought that the principles which he proposed might be 
accepted as adequate, and the Imperial Bill which had been 
prepared to deal with the question of naturalization should 
be re-drafted. 
Sir Wilfrid Laurier regretted that the Imperial Government 
were not, prepared to accept naturalization in any one of the 
Dominions as conferring British citizenship throughout the 
Empire, but he was prepared to accept the compromise as 
a substantial step in the right direction, and the Australian 
(Government also concurred in the proposal. It was finally 
agreed therefore to accept the following principles :— 
(1) Imperial nationality should be world-wide and uniform, 
1 Parl. Pap., Cd. 5745, pp. 256-9.