ENTRY OF UNDESIRABLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20024, 14 August 1928, Page 8

ENTRY OF UNDESIRABLES.

There is due to arrive at Auckland to-day, from Australia, an individual who earned notoriety during an earlier stay in New Zealand by masquerading in various guises, imposing on credulous people, defrauding them of money, and suffering punishment for breaches of the criminal law. Visiting Australia he continued his career of fraud, served a sentence of imprisonment there, and was deported, with New Zealand as his destination. He is not a New Zealander, this country has no wish to have him return, and should not be called upon to offer him further hospitality. The customs authorities who scrutinise the papers of incoming passengers will offer no objection to his landing. The police, so far as has been disclosed, have no immediate action in view. The position seems to be that he will return without let or hindrance, and his future fate will depend on himself. If it were simply an instance of a person who had gone astray once, and was likely to return to law-abiding ways, there would be a good case for giving him another chance. On the man's known record, and what the police said of him when here before, this is manifestly not so. In the circumstances he is a visitor who should not be allowed to land. If he were a person of extreme views on social and political affairs, likely to p,reach subversive doctrines, the power to deny him admission'to the country is vested in the Attorney-General, and could be easily exercised. If the law is not equally effective in preventing the entry of known criminals who have no established residential qualifications as New Zealanders, it should be made so without delay. There is an elaborate process of examining passports and personal papers when an overseas vessel arrives. * The machinery for preventing an undesirable from landing is fully provided. If , the authority for restraining such a person from entering the country is lacking, the law requires strengthening for the protection of society.