NOT BANNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 129, 3 June 1939, Page 10

NOT BANNED.

EXPORT OF EARNINGS.

RICHARD CROOKS' CASE.

STATEMENT BY VISITOR,

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WANGANUI, this day,

"The report that Richard Crooks, the American tenor, had to invent his money in Xew Zealand because the Government would not allow him to take his earnings oat of the country is quite untrue," said Mr. Feng B. Mason, who has arrived in Wanganui to arrange for the appearance of a company of ballet dancers. "Mr. Crooks took every farthing he earned out of the country, amounting to more than two lots of four figures." Mr. Mason is associated with Mr. Maurice Ralph, who conducted Mr. Crooks' tour. Mr. Mason said Nicola, the magician, the Vienna Boys' Choir and "The Women" Company had all been able to take their money out of the Dominion.

He had been asked by Gladys Wirth, manager of Wirth's Circus, to go into the position when he arrived in New Zealand and ascertain what arrangements would be necessary regarding the forthcoming tour of the circus. Mr. Mason had gone to the Wirth's bank in Auckland and had been given an assurance that the company would be able to take its money out of ';he country at the close of the tour.

"Stories such as the one attributed to Richard Crooks are what the Australian public likes to read about New Zealand," said Mr. Mason. "The man in the street thinks everyone in New Zealand is poverty-stricken, and the Go%-ernment hasn't enough money to pay the public servants." He also beiieves stories that school teachers have gone months without pay. Mr. Mason said he never met anyone in any Australian city who could not change a New Zealand note by adopting ordinary business methods.