Good for war service but not for citizenship?

Press, 23 April 1979, Page 7

Good for war service but not for citizenship?

PA Whangarei Mr Edward O. Faithfull is alive and well in Hikurangi — but to the Government he is the man who never was. His mother’s father, a Norwegian, trained as a missionary in New Zealand, then took Christianity to the New Hebridean island of Tongoa. Mr Faithfull’s mother was born on the island, but according to her 1930 passport she was a Brit-ish-born subject. „ She was educated in New Zealand, which was looked on at the time as the “home country,” even though Tongoa was under joint French and Eneoish rule.

Mr Faithfull’s father was bom in South Africa, to New Zealand parents, and throughout World War II served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. But at the moment the Government does not class him as a New Zealander. “I’m saying that if he is good enough to fight for the country and he has lived here almost all his life you would think he was good enough to be classed as a Kiwi,” said Mr Faithfull of his father. Part of Mr Faithfull senior’s life was spent at Tongoa. where he met and married Mr Faithfull’s mother. In 1931, Mrs Faithfull gave birth to a son, but the island the child was born on was about 140 km from the nearest place where he could be registered. Because of the distance, no-one ever registered Edward Faithfull’s birth. Consequently, he has no birth certificate. Mr Faithfull came to New Zealand with his parents in 1934 — on his mother’s passport — and was raised and educated in this country. He also married here and has had three children. He has built up a business, paid taxes, and claimed insurance.

Then a year ago tie received an invitation to return to Tongoa to celebrate the centenary of his maternal grandfather’s arrival on the island. It was when Mr Faithful! tried to get a passport to attend the centennial celebrations that his problems began. The Government looks on his father as a South African and his mother as a New Hebridean. But Mr Faithful! himself is not sure just what nationality the Government thinks he is. Apparently, because he was born on an island under joint British and French rule, he is either French or British. Britain has disclaimed him. A letter from the British High Commission says that because Mr Faithful! was a resident in New Zealand before the New Zealand Citizenship Act of January 1, 1949, he should automatically have obtained citizenship and been entitled to hold a New Zealand passport. Mr S. R. F. Houghton, district officer of the Department of Internal Affairs, informed Mr Faithfull that the High Commission’s statement was “totally incorrect.” Mr Houghton advised Mr Faithfull to get in touch with the French Embassy in Wellington to find out whether he had acquired French nationality and was entitled to a French passport. “Possibly I could become a Frenchman, but I don’t want to, because I consider myself a New Zealander,” Mr Faithfull said. “The way things stand at the moment, I am nothing.”

But even the New Zealand Government must

have regarded Mr Faithfull as being a New Zealander at some time. He wtill has his call-up card for compulsory military training, which he received about 30 years ago. “They must have deemed me a New Zealand citizen or I would never have got one,” he said. “As far as I can see I am a Kiwi — I can’t see why they will not accept me now.” For 12 months, he has been trying to find out why the Govenment will not simply concede that he is a New Zealander. He admits that he could get New Zealand citizenship by going through the official channels. But that would take 14 months and he would miss the Tongoan centenary. Mr Faithfull see» no reason why he should

have to go through a rigmarole reserved for foreigners, because he does not belong to anv other nationality. “I could swear my allegiance to the country with a bunch of foreigners, but why the hell should I have to when I am already a New Zealander?” he said. He feels it would be degrading to be put through the system with people who cannot even speak English. In his fight for recognition, Mr Faithful! has turned to various Government departments, but has had nothing firm from any of them. “They just pass the buck one to the other,” he said. “This started over 12 months ago and I am still no further ahead. I am getting really brassed off."