VISITOR’S COMPLAINT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 90, 10 January 1935, Page 9

VISITOR’S COMPLAINT

Dominion Customs Laws EFFECT ON TOURIST TRADE Sydney, January 9. Mr. Goudriaan, director of the Hol-land-Australia Shipping Line, who arrived by the Marama from New Zealand, said that the Dominion's tourist trade would suffer considerably if the law’s put into effect by the Customs Department were not altered. “They will not encourage respectable foreigners to visit them if the visitors are forced to sign a document promising to be of good behaviour. The Customs officers are very fine, and must find it embarrassing to have to do these things.” Mr. Goudriaan complained of the delays and restrictions governing the entry of foreigners into New Zealand. He said that because they were foreigners, he and his wife had to wait until the remainder of the 600 passengers on the arriving steamer had been cleared. “We had a British visa entitling us to enter all the Dominions, but, despite this, £lO had to be deposited. This amount was not refunded before we left because we failed to observe the note on the back of the declaration advising us'to apply for a refund on the previous day.”

An official reply to .a question on the above message stated that the restrictions imposed on foreigners arriving in New Zealand were laid down by the Immigration Restriction Act, and in general were far less burdensome or vexatious than those in foreign countries. In regard to the complaint that the visitors had to wait till all the other passengers had been put through, in spite of the fact that they held a British visa, it was pointed out that it would be manifestly impracticable to hold up the others until the formalities concerning the foreigners, required by the Act, had been completed. The responsibility was on the Customs Department to see that no persons against whom the provisions of the Act would operate were allowed to enter the country. The possession of a British visa did not entitle a foreigner to land without the prescribed permit, although in special cases temporary permits might be issued.