QUAINT PROHIBITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19136, 30 September 1925, Page 13

QUAINT PROHIBITIONS.

SOME NATIONAL PREJUDICES. FIRE-ARMS AND FISH-NETS. THE ARCTIC TO AUSTRALIA. < Why may one pot send a little present of, some roagh-on-rats to a friend in Trinidad, a feeding-bottle with tube to one's daughter-in-law in Algeria, or a packet or two of wax-candles to Bulgaria, without calling down on one's head certain penalties and punishments duly provided in the postal code of these nations? These potent questions, with many similar ones, perplex one s mind afto a brief perusal of that very interesting ;and informative little volume, the New .Zealand Post and Telegraph Guide for One feels instinctively that this little book is not studied as it should be in the homes of the Dominion; it suggests questions that one cannot possibly answer, reveals unsuspected gaps in the educational system of the country, #na induces that peculiarly baffled feeling which no grown-up person who goes to business in the city likes to experience in connection with little ordinary matters? of business life. of the prohibitions and special restrictions placed upon the importation of certain goods into certain countries, as set forth in this valuable book, might lead to serious consequences, not to say international complications. \ The risk of this is plainly to be seen in those pages which deal with the hottempered little Central American Republics. Nicaragua, for example, is likely to be seriously annoyed if any well-meaning outsider tries surreptitiously to enclose within postal packet or parcel such things as bullets, bayonets, or repeating rifles. Revolutions are apt to spring, up overnight like mushrooms in these overheated American countries, where the daily diet of the people includes Chilipeppers. so it is not surprising to learn the Dominican Republic has _a rooted objection to daggers, sword-sticks, swordumbrellaSj . and similar , intriguing weapons. * Brazil's Several Objections.

Brazil goes a step further, and in addition to daggers, declines to receive knives, airguns, and air-pistols. Argentine, well below the equator and a trifle cooler in temperament, is more tolerant., but she recognises the little foibles of her Latin element by placing the ban 0:3 daggers With triangular blades, stilettosi, and iron hilts without points. is one of sevei-al otheV countries whidi frown upon firearms and, things with points and blades, but she is al»t> interested in the pursuits of „;i peace, apd 4 side by side with these deatb-doal-,ing weapons has pfohibited silk worn eggs, weights and measures, the seed of the .ginseng plant, . and imitations of coins and paper money. Some very peculiar national prejudices are revealed by a close scrutiny of th<> I'ostal Guide.* To the average mind, i|j must remain a mystery.'why Algeria has prohibited not only daggers and pistols,: but harmless things such as feedingbottles with tubes, spring balances, kitchen utensils, preserved fish and vegetables. And why should Cyprus have set her face against locust-eggs and , old clothes for saJe P why has the Columbian Republic taken exception ■to condensed beer, liquid or, solid, and what is Bui- 1 garia's special • objection to fishing nets, I wax-candles and .alcohol from plums.! Why, again, should Egypt have slammed, her doors in the face of live bees, and ' all parts of the Colobus, monkey I ! One can rHadily understand , Guatemala's abhorrence of dead- animals, except insects and reptiles perfectly dried and packed, but one cannot help wondering why harmless things like medals should have been placed in such unsavoury company. . Mexico has introduced quite . a novel line of prohibitions. She repeats her.fussy little neighbour's prejudice against the dead animals {unless stuffed) and thifn declares' against jams, sweetmeats, psatry, fruit, vegetables; and poisons, It would seem either that she ffears the national palate : may be degraded, or else that the Chili-pepper-cum-garlic diet has placed the national digestion in sucli parlous ,«tate thai all sweet-stuffs much henceforth be foresworn. Foibles in the Arctic. Away up in the Arctic Circle, just the same as in the Torrid Zone, ; they also have their little foibles. JFinhlnd wantn no potatoes, v pork, nor substances contain-, ing pork. Neither would i*, be correct to send calendars to Laplahd, which would quite understandably be a breach of etiquette in a country where there; only two reasons in the year, night and day. Iceland, on the other hand, couples with ¥1 objection to old bedding and rags, a list which includes laces, perfumes, flowers and : jewellery . ... Did one not read, somewhere that the feriiinist, movement was making great'headway among the strong, silent women of,! the north f,j There is a distinct flavour < of \ petticoat j government about that list, ji veiled deter-'j mination °to save frail suiters from the i foibles of the sex! "... j Then coming to the more robust matters j of life. Can any explanation be given of the feeling that has spraig up on the Gold Coast against certain, dire things termed knuckle-dusters, or; of the embargo whifth Tripidad and Tobago haye placed | on rough-on-rats ? And what dark doings are afoot in Nicaragua,arid her, neighbour, ,tl(at, same hot-headed little ..Guatemala., that police whistles, those priceless emblems of law and ordw, should have been.' summarily prohibited ? Intrigue and subtle plottings are part of the very life of those Latin republics, but one dare not say that is why Nicaragua will have Nothing to do with telegraph and telephone apparatus! There are , quite a fot of things which one may not send to the Bahamas, but , prominent in the list is a prohibition against rags, shoddy, "and via New York, disused and filthy clothing and bedding." Somebody seems to have been treating the Bahamas shamefully. It is well to note that Greece and Newfoundland are also standing on their dignity and refusing to accept old shoes intended for sale, pld clothes, worn linen apd used bedding, uiiless washed .... Surely an entirely reasonable proviso! Within the Empire. Within the Empire various countries have their own particular little prejudices.' India, for instance, will have- nothing to do with quinine which has been coloured pink, South Africa bars peach-stones, and eau de Cologne for the Basutosj Kenya will not admit condensed skimmed milk,, while water-hyacinths i and pepper-plants from India are noxious weeds so far as Ceylon is concerned. Coming nearer home, one. finds that Australia • has achieved world-distihction by setting up a little embargo against hypnotic or gazing crystals. And the young globe-trotter who has bingled her locks and suddenly sends home tor ihem while on a visit to Australia' is courting trouble, for no human hair, unless sterilised and dressed, or made up for sale, is permitted entry to that care ful country. Down near the bottom of the list is one of the quaintest prohibitions of all, emanating from that dai'k and devious h«dv, the Uni&h of: Soviet Republics inEurope and Asia, which has forbidden entry to fiiild-glasses. Frepumebly it would .not dp for the proletariat to see too clearly what is going on beyond the limits of the back fence. Fashion plates and papers are also barred, unless addressed to Mejdounarodnaia Kniga, Moscow, Kouznetcki Most 12, which, one woula have thoughl;, would have been quite sufficient prohibition in itself.