TOURISTS AND THE CUSTOMS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 90, 10 January 1935, Page 8

TOURISTS AND THE CUSTOMS

A director of the Holland-Australia Shipping Line has been ventilating in Sydney a grievance against New Zealand in its treatment of foreign tourists upon their landing in the Dominion. An official reply.to the points raised makes it clear that in these matter the Customs authorities are bound by the provisions of the Immigiation Restriction Act to see that the formalities prescribed are duly .carped out. It ..does seem rather unnecessary, however, that a visitor ot Mri Goudriaan’s standing should be subject to the same burdensome and vexatious formalities as are required of an anarchist coming into the country with seditious intent. • - . The system is the more embarrassing because in its operation i. is likely to have a bad effect on the tourist business. From all quarters there is an insistent demand that we should make a boldei bid foi the patronage of tourists from other countries. In his present state of inind Mr. Goudriaan is more likely to warn his. countrymen olt this country than to encourage them to visit it. that is not good business for the Tourist Department. It might be as well for the Government to look into the matter and see whether, while preserving every needful precaution to see that some unpleasant fellow does not. sneak into the country and murder some of us in our beds, or blow us up, the present restrictions could not be relaxed to the extent that bona-fide foreign tourists could be welcomed with open arms, so to speak, instead of being treated as suspects. On the principle of British justice that every man is innocent till he is proved guilty we inight even relax a little further, and let it be understood that people visiting this country should be free to come and go as long as they behaved themselves. If they did not behave themselves they could, and wov.lc. be clapped in jail.