ENTRY BAN TO STAND

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33804, 29 March 1975, Page 3

ENTRY BAN TO STAND

(X.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, March 28

An application for a Supreme Court review of the refusal of an entry permit for a musician has been declined.

The applicant was Raymond Henderson Lucas, of New York, a drummer in the Dionne Warwicke group, who sought a review of the decision of the Minister of Immigration in refusing him a temporary entry permit because of a conviction for a drug offence. The group will begin a New Zealand tour in a few days.

The application was declined in an oral judgment by Mr Justice O’Regan in I the Supreme Court at Wellington yesterday.

On behalf of Lucas it had been submitted that the reasons for the Minister’s decision had been based on incorrect facts, his Honour said.

They were that he had been convicted for a drug offence in the United States,

whereas he had never been convicted on any offence in that country, but he had been convicted in Canada of possessing cannabis, for which he was fined $2OO or 60 days imprisonment. The date of the conviction was also Wrong.

It was clear that what was important was that Lucas had a conviction for a drug offence. The discreprancies unfortunate though they were, were not of any consequence, his Honour said. There was nothing in the Immigration Act from which could be inferred any limitation on the discretion vested in the Minister in the granting of permits. The Minister was not obliged to give any reason for his decisions.