Customs men ‘work under horse-and-cart system’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33092, 6 December 1972, Page 2

Customs men ‘work under horse-and-cart system’

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, December 5.

New Zealand Customs Department officers were trying to cope with the jet age under a horse-and-cart system, said the assistant advisory officer for the Public Service Association (Mr A. J. Simpson) in an interview today.

Officers on the Wellington waterfront were frustrated in their efforts to obtain better conditions, he said.

A delegation of customs officers at the interview said that:

Customs officers were still riding bicycles during the daytime while their counterparts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries nad the use of radio-equipped cars.,. Requests for breathing apparatus for searching tanks in ships had not

been met, in spite of one officer having nearly suffocated. Customs men were having to search baggage for bombs at Wellington airport without any instructions on to what to do should a live bomb be found. “ONE BICYCLE”

The officers said the Customs Wharf staff at Wellington had only one bicycle for use among them during the day, and most of them did their rounds on foot

“It’s disgusting to see an officer on duty riding a push-

bike while other departmental officers have motorised transport," Mr Simpson laid. “They are trying to cope with a drug traffic which becomes more sophisticated as time goes by—and they are trying to cope with It on a bike." A rental car with radio equipment was available during the evening and night but the two officers on duty patrolled together. Because nobody was in the office to receive calls it was useless, he said. A link should be made with the police so that calls could be made in an emergency; at present the only way was to stop the car and make a telephone call. Mr Simpson said one officer was taken unconscious from a ship’s tank while inspecting it for contraband, and admitted to hospital. “We have asked for breathing equipment and after three years we still have not got it," he said. Many officers supplied their own tools because there were not enough to go round, and those that were supplied were rubbish, one officer said.

GEAR SOUGHT Mr Simpson said that under the Aviation Crimes Act this year, responsibility was placed on the Customs and Police departments to search baggage at the airport for bombs. But nobody had been trained what to do if a bomb were found.

“The department says it is preparing to give chaps training but they won’t set a date on it. It doesn’t alter the fact that customs officers under legislation are called on to a job without training,” said. “If a man died through an explosion his wife would receive only $10,000.” BOMB FORECAST “And don’t say it won’t happen here—it will and a bomb will blow up. “If the French go ahead with their coming atomic tests we will be searching baggage looking for bombs and pistols.”

Mr Simpson said an officer once asked what he would do if confronted with a pistol. He was told “to go and get the nearest policeman." Officers were also disgruntled about hours of work at Wellington Airport. After working an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. day, they had to report for airport duty at 10.30 p.m. Requests for a mileage allowance for officers to use their own cars for this work had not been granted, he said. APPOINTMENTS Job satisfaction was another issue, according to the officers. Five jobs were recently advertised, including a director and inspector at Auckland, inspector in the Narcotics Bureau, and a chief preventive officer. These were all filled with men from the clerical staff without any experience, an officer said. “These chaps are getting the plum jobs, when they should be given to those coming up through the ranks. It’s very frustrating," the officer said.