The Secretary to the Prime Minister's Department has requested advice as to whether Syrian subjects who are registered with the French Consul as French proteges are to be treated as friendly aliens or to be regarded as Turkish subjects.

It appears, from the letter of 18 February 1920, from the French Consul at Melbourne to the Minister of Defence, that the French Government recognises as a French protege any Syrian subject who is registered as a French protege in the records of the Consulate, and that any such protegS is, so far as the French Government is concerned, regarded as a French subject.

Legally, the Syrian subjects in question appear to be Turkish subjects. The provisions of the War Precautions Act and the Regulations thereunder referring to enemy subjects would, therefore, apply to them.

In my opinion, registration, as a French prot6g6, in the French Consulate, of a Syrian subject would not, so far as the Commonwealth is concerned, affect his nationality.

[Vol. 16, p. 494]