A CRUEL LAW.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 119, 22 May 1905, Page 4

A CRUEL LAW.

A good deal of indignation was recenfly aroused in Australia over an interpretation put upon tho Commonwealth's roslnotions on undesirable- immigrants ny tho Cubtoms authorities, which called for tho inteivontion of tho Prime Minister. A well-known tilasgow manufacturer, who is louring tho world with his daughter, and has tho misifortuno to be blind, was icfiit>cd pmniis&ion to land from tho Rual»ehu nt llobuit until tho agents deposited •UIOO as a security ugaiiud his becoming ;<. uhaigo upon tho country during his May. Air. Keid expressed his amazement at tho incident, declaring that "if it is tiuo, then bomo peison in tho Customs Department is eilLur a consummate ass, or has been grievously misinformed as to the cneuinslancos." Aa the e.me was one of the blundering exercise of a discretion by a bitboidinutu ollker, it vus very easily set right j but an instance has lecently como under our notico of tho operation of tho New Zealand law on ihc subject, which is of a fur moro cruel chaructor, and unfortunately admits of no administrative redress, as tho terms ol the enactment ure clear, and allow no discretion on tho part of the administruI tion. A young JNew Zeulander, who wis born and bred in the colony but has been piuxtisiug his profession abroad, hus rej cently been aflhctcd with a discaiio of the ; brain, which mado it necessary for him, j for tho present at any rate, to give up his work. To return home to be nursed was tho until nil com so for a young fellow to take if he had a home to go Id, but though in name ho baa still v home, it appears Unit tho beneficent legislation of tins enlightened colony absolutely denies him the right of access to it. Arrangements wrro made for his return, and | wo understand that ho was .actually on his way when his heart-broken paients were informed that tho law of Now Zealand would not allow him to land ; lie must remain an axilo in the hands of struiigersj until the cruel necessity which turned his face homeward shall have liftod, and if it does not. lift, then his banibhincnt must be perpetual. It is stated that tho highest legal authority hus lulvisod to this effect, and the terms of the Immigration Restriction Act, 1899, appear to be too plain and dniwtic to make any other interpretation possible. Tho ordinary <% prohibited immigrant." within the meaning of tho Act, is " any person othor than British " who fails to satisfy the writing test prescribed by the Act, but tho prohibition also applies to insano persons of whatsoever nationality, and whether of r colonial origin or not. Somo concessions are mado to family lifo, and some to tho case of persons returning to 'their native or adopted country, but | they have no application to such a case as the present, whore they aro most needed. Section 5 enacts that "in any euro where nny person not being a prohibited lmimginut lands in New Zealand accompanied by his wife or children, such ttifo or children shall not be deemed to be prohibited immigrants." The law is thus humane (nou<;h to respect tho family lifo of the intending immigrant, and tikes the qualification of tho head of the family as sufficient to pass all the other members of it in. Tho following section nlso provides that " where any person whe-n landing in Now Zealand satisliex any otliccr under this Act that he is or formerly was domiciled in New Zealand," he shall not in ccilnm c:iw bo deenu-d a prohibited immigrant; but this provision is for the benefit of tho illiterate foreigner, and not for the benefit of those of our own flesh and blood, who come within the other clauses of the prohibition. > The rosult is indeed a cruel and a monstrous paradox. An alien who cm write a f<<w linos of Knglish or any other Kuropoan language .iml is mentally sound is giwn a passport for tho whole of hia family, however illik-rato or insane they may bo; but bona-fido residents in tho colony who have spent their lives among us are nut good enough security to au thoriso the return of an invalided son or daughter. Further, an alien who has once s.itiificd tlw writing test and cstabIMicu his foothold in tho colony docs not loio it by temporary absenco, and will neod to pass no examination on his ivhtni, but a permanent resident in tho colony who may have all his family, hir property, and his interests hero uuy bo for ever debarred from returning by an accident or an illness to which all human floah is liable. It is infamous that a man m this position should bo excluded, and condonmed either to dia (intended away from his family or to havo th?m summoned to share his exilo. Both parents and children should remember for tho future to add this to the risks of foreign travel. A change of air and see-no and occupation in often the best prescription possible fuj brain and nerve-j that are beginning to feel th* strain of life and to iuvd a Vest, but if the prescription should fail to effect a cure, lot it bo remembeiod that the alternative is porpotual exile for tho patient. The young man who is sent to school or college, in tho Old Country or to represent the colony at liisley oi on tho football field, the man or woman, young or did, who ventures beyond the three-mile limit in search of health or pleasure, may suffor mental <fcrnngcmonl and with it an irreversible sentence of banishment through an accident against which no care or skill is an absolute guarantee. The custom of primitive man whichdcstroyed the sick and the fecblo was in some respects more humane, and tho sooner our much-lauded legislation is mado to square with tho elemDiitary demands of civilised humanity, -the better for our reputation. The oM-fashionod knock on the head was lees refinod, but not more cruel, than life-long separation and exile.