Communication ‘broke down’

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 2

Communication ‘broke down’

PA Wellington A French-speaking interpreter had been provided for a Swiss youth, aged 16, who ran into difficulties with officials at Auckland Airport last Friday, said the Immigration. Division yesterday. The Assistant Secretary of Immigration, Mr Gordon Shroff, said he understood Thomas Battig, who speaks German, had asked for a French interpreter and one had been provided. “For some reason there was a breakdown in communication,” he said. Mr Battig arrived in Auckland from Switzerland for a six-month stay on the West Coast, but because he did not have an onward air ticket and could not explain that an interpreter was waiting for him at the airport, he was put on the next flight back to London. Through the intervention of the Minister of Immigration, Mr Burke, Mr Battig was intercepted at Sydney Airport on Friday evening and flown to Christchurch the next day. Mr Shroff said the immigration process at airports was done by cus-

toms officers working under the Immigration Act. In Auckland, however, there was an immigration official to meet flights from overseas but he was sick on Friday. Mr Shroff said that apparently Mr Battig’s family had arranged for a Swiss friend to meet him at the airport. “When he did not appear she inquired with the airline, to be told that there was no passenger of that name on the flight,” he said. “There seem to have been a number of communication breakdowns,” he said. Mr Shroff said airports, through the airlines, usually had people available with a fair range of language skills. The director of border control for the Customs Department, Mr Ron McGrath, said the matter was still being investigated. He said the problem was rare as most overseas visitors had a smattering of English.

Sometimes, if the department knew a group from a particular nationality was arriving, an interpreter would be arranged.