NOW GERMANS ARE INDEXED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 141, 4 February 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

NOW GERMANS ARE INDEXED.

XO MI X IS ALLOWED TO MOVE WITHOUT XOTimXl, THE POLICE. fhe liritish Xational Register is the lirst nine that such an index has been made of the nation, and many people, though they filled up the necessary forms, objected to the index on the principle that it was a German custom. The German nation is. indeed, the most indixed nation of any on earth. For evrey man, woman, ami child in Germany there is an index card which is constantly kept up to date. In Berlin there are 12,000,000 such cards, all filed in alphcbetical order, employing 200 men to look after them, and occupying 130 rooms. The cards dealing with people wlio.se name begins witii " S'' a'one lill fifteen rooms. These cards give the names of all persons born in Berlin. or who have at any time been in Beirln. Joliann Schmidt, for example, has a card on which is written the place :'.nd date of his birth, the names of his parents, the various places he has lived in since lie was born, when ne moved, the date of his marrage, his wife's maiden name, and a reference to her family. The card also contain-, the names of Schmidt's servants, if he employs any. his religion, and his criminal record, if lie ha- one.

That applies to everyone of (iernian birth, and : t is compulsory to send the information to the police, under heavy penalties. Even when a man dies his record is not destroyed, for it is kept in the special "Dead" file!

(iernian who moves from Berlin to Coblenz, say, must, witli n 24 hours, file particulars of himself with the police, giving his name, business, age, former residence, whether married, single, or widowed, and his religion.