THE FARCE CONTINUED.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 20 March 1919, Page 3

THE FARCE CONTINUED.

Then the policeman enquired whether this lady had given her consent to her husband leaving N,Z. She said she had. Then the . bobby wished to know whether she was quite satisfied with the provision made for her maintenance during her husband's absence. She said she was. After asking a lot more questions the policeman went away. Next day the man who wanted the passport was rung up by some functionary or other and was asked if he was quite sure his wife was agreeable to his leaving home. He sa<id he was. The voice then demanded what arrangements he was making for the maintenance of his family while he was away. He stated them. Then the matter apparently faded from the official mind and a month elapsed without anything more happening. So the would-be traveller wrote to Wellington. The reply was to the effect that the authorities were not satisfied as to whether the applicant's wife was "quite willing," so they enclosed a form for her to fill up. The wife replied that she knew her husband was going away, and that she had no complaint or objection to urge. But the people in Wellington were not content with that, so they asked the applicant to furnish them with a list of his children, names, ages, and sex. At last after nearly two months' delay, the applicant received a notification that the passport had actually been issued ! But before this gentleman can use his, passport he will have to interview all the Consuls in Auckland representing the different countries he proposes to visit. He will be lucky if he has time in which to comply with all the regulations before the boat by which he has booked his passage sails from Auckland. Now think not only of the inconvenience and loss of time to which this gentleman has been subjected, but of the waste of time by well-paid Government officials in collecting a lot of information (and collecting some of it over and over again) of precious little value, and in part quite irrelevant,