The Secretary to the Department of Home and Territories has requested advice as to whether under sub-section (5) of section 7 of the Nationality Act 1920 the case of a male applicant may be treated as 'any other special case'.

Sub-section (5) provides as follows:

(5) In the case of a woman who was a British subject previously to her marriage to an alien, and whose husband has died or whose marriage has been dissolved, the requirements of this section as to residence shall not apply and the Governor-General may in any other special case, if he thinks fit, grant a certificate of naturalization,

although the four years' residence or five years' service has not been within the last eight years before the application.

In my opinion the question should be answered in the affirmative.

[Vol. 18, p. 288]