ALLEGED DEPORTATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19952, 22 May 1928, Page 12

ALLEGED DEPORTATION.

YOUNG MAN FROM CANADA.

STORY THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE.

TRADE COMMISSIONER'S BELIEF.

"I think it impossible that ho could have been deported; in any case, I am communicating with the Canadian Government authorities at Ottawa to secuie the full facts of the position." This statement wus made yesterday by Mr. C. M. Croft, Canadian Trade Commissioner, in reference to Mr. Francis Raymond Hyde, whef arrived at Auckland by the Aorangi from Vancouver on Sunday, suffering from a broken back as the result of an accident on a Canadian farm. Mr. Croft added the impression seemed to be current that Mr. Hyde had been deported and that he had been badly treated by the Canadian authorities.

"Deportation implies that a person has been 'booted out of the country' as an undesirable, and if the facts are as stated in Mr. Hyde's case that i 3 impossible." continued Mr. Croft. ".We cannot believe the statements that have been made that ho was deported. My present opinion is that Mr. Hyde was sent back to New Zealand among his friends as a kindness. He was helpless in Canada without any friends and to me it seems the best thing that could have been done for him was to send him back."

In reply to a question, Mr. Croft said that if the same thing had happened to a Canadian in New Zealand it would have boon part of his duty to make every endeavour to have him sent back to Canada. In the meantime, ho was in a peculiar position concerning the present case, owing to the lack of official information. When this came to hand a fuller statement could bo made. Mr. Croft said he had heard that when Mr. Hyde was at Vancouver waiting to be placed on board the Aorangi his welfare was the concern of several prominent Vancouver business men. One or two of them went to the boat to see him off and to make sure he was quite comfortable for the voyage. "If Mr. Hyde had entered Canada with a broken back and had not notified the immigration officials, then he might have been liable to deportation," added Mr. Croft. The laws of Canada provided that the following people from other lands were liable to deportation:—Those who were in any way mentally defective or were suffering from any contagious disease, or had been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude and anarchists, beggars and vagrants or persons over 15 who were unable to read.

Regarding compensation, Mr. Croft said the different Provinces of Canada framed their own laws regarding this matter. Very often no provision was made for the compensation of farm labourers. Mr. Croft concluded by stating he felt certain that Mr. Hyde had not been done an injustice by the Canadian authorities. Ho wanted to get the true facts of the case.