HARSH REGULATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26215, 27 July 1946, Page 7

HARSH REGULATION

BOND MONEY DEMANDED BRIDES FROM DOMINION c NO PRIOR INTIMATION SAN FRANCISCO, (Rec. 0.30 a.m.) July 25. The Mariposa, on her last trip as a bride ship, to-day brought a 500-dollar headache to 57 engaged couples who did not know that 500 dollars were required as a bond before legal entry to the United States could be gained. Officials hastily made contact with most of the intended husbands, explaining that the money must be produced before they could see their girls. Forty-four fiancees were held for several hours in the lounge on board the ship, unable to see their impatient intended husbands waiting on the pier below. Many broke into tears, and all were bitter over the situation. They were not told of the entry provision until after the Mariposa had left Honolulu, and the prospective husbands learned of the bond requirement when they arrived at the dock this morning or by telegrams. Some were unable to raise the money immediately. Nine fiancees possessed visas under the permanent New Zealand quota of 100 im-* migrants annually. Of the remainder, 10 were met by their men, and all but one of these posted the bond after several hours.

Unable immediately to raise the bond, James Healam, of Washington, and his fiancee, Naida Hewitt, asked if immediate marriage would hot be a substitute for the bond. Roy Grey' and Joan Harvey, of Auckland, als6 asked if they could not be married on board the ship at the dock. Immigration officials are still looking in the rule books to see if this is permissible. Grey, a former navy man, is extremely irate after crossing the continent to meet Joan. “It has already cost us about 2500 dollars in the American bank and £l5O in travellers’ cheques before being permitted to board the ship at Auckland,” he said.

Also on board were 151 war wives and their 75 children. The army says this is the last bride ship, although some 400 more brides will come individually. Yet to come are some 1500 New Zealand and Australian fiancees, who will be informed of the new entry bond regulation.