England Has It, Too

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 10, 6 January 1948, Page 4

England Has It, Too

New Zealanders often kick about the irrelance of some of the questions on Government forms. Admitted, there is ample reason to kick in some cases. It does seem that a lot of the • information asked for is often like the Gilbert 'and Sullivan “Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, Tra-la”—nothing to do with the case. Still, there is perhaps consolation in the thought that we haven’t got it to ourselves. Here is a copy of a letter in “The New Statesman,” London:— “When filling up a form recently for a vegetarian ration book, I had great difficulty in finding a “Responsible Person,” among my numerous friends, to vouch for my bonafides. The categories listed included Salvation Army Captains, and Certified Midwives, but not editors, dentists, publishers, librarians, antiquarians, publicans, novelists, dramatists, Members of Parliament, or any of the . riff-raff with whom I normally consort. “I mentioned this to a man of some worldly experience, who said that my case was a very mild example of such irrelevance. He mentioned the case of a friend who applied fcfr a post under the Admiralty recently, as an analyst of steel. Among the questions in the form sent to him, he was asked whether any of his family rode to hounds.”