PRISONERS IN NEW ZEALAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 16, 26 May 1939, Page 5

PRISONERS IN NEW ZEALAND

MEN AND THEIR MONEY

MR DOIDGE SPEAKS AT

EDGECUMBE

''We have arrived at a stage when we are neither shocked nor surprised by anything the Government does," declared Mr F. W. Doidge, M.P V> when addressing a public meeting a.t Edgecumbe on Wednesday night at which Colonel J. Hargest was also a speaker. ''Yet every day unbelievable things are happening. Let me tell you of two recent incidents in Tauranga— and, of course, similar things are happening in every other part of the Dominion,/'' said Mr Doidge., "Recently the son of one of our leading business men went to the United States to undergo a three months' course of instruction in motor salesmanship. He went at the invitation of General Motors Ltd. The course of instruction was extended and the son cabled to his father from Detroit, and asked permission to stay through the course. The father agreed. "Then trouble arose over the transmission of extra funds. The father asked me to support his appeal to the Minister of Finance. Permission was sought to send the young man a hundred pounds. That permission was not forthcoming. In the end the parent got over the difficulty. He obtained £100 in Australian notes from an Australian visitor. But he had to pay £109 New Zealand money for £100 Australian." Could Not Leave Country ''The second case/' continued Mr Doidge, "is even more extraordinary. A clever young man in Tauranga. who had built up a splendid business, openly expressed his determination to leave the country. He went to Australia, and put down a deposit on a new proposition in Sydney. Then he returned and sold his business in Tauranga at a figure running into some thousands of pounds. Twice lie had to visit Wellington and plead with the Government for permission t 0 sell. Ultimately that permission was grudgingly given. "The next problem was to get his money to Australia," Mr Doidge added. ''By an interchange of credits he hoped to do thait. He made arrangements which seemed to be satisfactory and having sold his home and furniture in Tauranga, he actually boarded the Wanganella for Sydney. I sent him a telegram, wishing hiin au revoir and good luck. But just before sailing time he learned that hi s arrangements for a credit interchange had fallen through. He and his famity had to walk off the ship. ' The man and his money are to-day prisoners in New Zealand."