Family Given Permits

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32015, 16 June 1969, Page 1

Family Given Permits

The British family refused entry to New Zealand last Wednesday because entry permits had not been obtained arrived back at Christchurch Airport on Saturday with permission to stay for six months on temporary permits. Mr M. Le Miere, aged 57, said on behalf of his wife, daughter-in-law and her son, that he was very happy to be on New Zealand soil. Kenya “was not too comfortable for me.” They are staying with relatives in Christchurch. Mr Le Miere said he believed that there had been a misunderstanding over his being refused entry last week. “In my letter to Wellington I made it quite clear that I am of European origin and that I hold Commonwealth citizenship,” he said. Mr Le Miere said he hoped that the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Seath) would permit them to settle in the Dominion permanently. “I stated in my entry application that I wanted to work. Anything will do. I am not choosy.” Mr Le Miere, a clerk, worked for 25 years with the Kenyan Farmers’ Association. One reason why New Zealand had attracted him was that he had relatives living here, he said. He was so sure that he would be admitted that he had sold everything he had in Kenya before leaving. His luggage will arrive at Lyttelton soon. Mr Le Miere said that he was not without funds. He had brought some and more would follow from a bank in Kenya.