TOO MUCH RED TAPE

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1928, Page 6

TOO MUCH RED TAPE

ENTER IXO- AISTRADIA. VISITORS COMPLAIN. SYDNEY, Nov. 29. Now Zoalaml visitors to Australia must lio impressed with the t increase in t!io precautions taken by the authorities since the formalities entailed in entering the Commowealth have been added to. But the attention given to New Zealand boats is as nothing compared with that given to the “overseas’’ liners, and even Australian citizens returning to their native country are beginning to complain that the system is unnecessarily searching and complicated. Travellers state that Aits tralia is rapidly becoming as difficult to enter as the Baited States, which since 1920 lias i.een notor.ous throughout the world for the number of its restrictions and the met icuiousims with which they are carried out. It would seem that the regulations regarding New Zealanders are lieing • ightenod, and those might well form tlm subject of negotiations between tin. two countries in order to put the matter on a definite- footing. At one ti.nu New 'Zealanders were admitted without, question, just a.s though they were mter-Stnte passengers, hut this no ■ longer prevails. Every person, Australians included, wishing to enter Australia from another country must possess a pa sport—this, of course, does not apply to Non Zealanders-- and in addition aliens must till in a special form with the same information as that contained in flic passport and a number of extra questions. A bond of £4O is demanded of intending settlers. The now Customs regulations concern New Zealanders. Every traveller must fill in a Customs declaration form, but this does not do away with the Customs search of the luggage on the wharf after the debarkation. For one not accustomed to documents of the nature provided the form is said to he difficult to handle correctly. Heavy penalties are provided for errors and omissions in the completed form. The Customs regulations now entail a considerable delay in disembarkation, much to the annoyance of the passengers and the friends who meet the beats. However. New Zealanders really have no justification for complaint, as the system in force in the Dominion is even more strict.

Foreign visitors complain that the worst feature about Australia is the contemptuous manner in which thev are treated in the ofi' ini routine. They say they are continuously referred to as aliens by officials, who anpear to ape American methods, and that they are treated with extreme suspicion, no matter what the olvect of thcii visit. While such' precautions anpear to be justified from the Australian point of