DUTCH MIGRANTS STRANDED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26987, 12 March 1953, Page 9

DUTCH MIGRANTS STRANDED

NO PERMITS TO ENTER NEW ZEALAND

(Rec. 10 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 11. A Dutch couple and their three sons today walked the decks of the liner Esperance Bay unable to land in Australia and banned from going to New Zealand.

A Dutch engineer, Mr Arie Frederick Oudyn, who held a highly-paid Position in Colombo, decided to take his wife and sons, aged eight, seven, and six, to New Zealand to live; but they have no papers permitting them to land in New Zealand and today failed to obtain the necessary permission from the New Zealand Government authorities. Mr Oudyn and his family reached Sydney yesterday afternoon with passages booked on the liner Monowai, leaving Sydney tomorrow for Wellington. Mr Oudyn said today that' he was gravely concerned with his predicament. He said he had enough money to live on holiday for a year, but wanted to take his family to New Zealand, but could not do so without the necessary papers. Mr Oudyn said there was no New Zealand representative in Colombo, and the travel agency there told him all he needed to do was to book his passage and set sail. His case has been referred to the Immigration Department in Canberra. The New Zealand Assistant Director of Employment (Mr H. Parsonage), who is in charge of administering immigration for his department, said that he had no knowledge of the particular case. However, the regulations were quite clear and any person not of British birth and parentage had to have a permit before he or she arrived to settle permanently in New Zealand. The permit was granted only after full consideration of the suitability of an applicant. In addition. married people not of British birth and parentage had to be sponsored by someone in New Zealand and guaranteed accommodation.—(P.A.)