Rudeness irks American

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34009, 25 November 1975, Page 1

Rudeness irks American

A young American pro* fessional photographer has gone home soured by the apparent callous indifference of New Zealand Customs officers.

Craig rask, of Connecticut, briefly visited Christchurch last week hoping to share with relatives a bottle of whisky he had bought on the way from Sydney. But the bottle did not get past the airport Customs inspection counter. Mr Trask was subjected to a thorough examination during which the bottle was knocked from the counter and smashed.

The Customs officer, said Mr Trask, thought that the accident was “too bad” and merely indicated a rubbish tin where Mr Trask could deposit the shattered remains.

Because there was a crowd waiting behind him to get through customs and he was being paged over the public address system, Mr Trask was reluctant to

remonstrate and ask the Customs to replace the bottle.

In his view, tihe Customs people were responsible for the loss. He wanted to know if they would be so offhand if his $2OOO camera had also crashed to the floor.

Asked to comment on the incident, the acting Collector of Customs (Mr A. H. Mills) said that according to the Customs Act, no officer was responsible for any damage or breakage which occurred during the course of a search.

There had been two or three cases similar to Mr Trasks’s in recent years and for the sake of good public relations, the department had made good the loss.

He invited Mr Trask’s Christchurch relatives to make representations to him in writing. These would be forwarded to head office with a recommendation that compensation be made.