PERMIT REFUSED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 208, 2 September 1931, Page 7

PERMIT REFUSED.

New Zealander’s Experiences in France. (Special to the " Star.”) YVELLINGTON, September 1. Interesting observations on conditions in France and in particular on the w T ork of the Student Christian Movement there were made by Mr G. S. Troup, who returned to New Zealand by the Ulimaroa to-day after an absence of over a year and a half. Mr Troup left New Zealand to act as secretary of the foreign students at the Student Christian Union’s headquarters in Paris. Owing to certain restrictions he was unable to remain in France and has returned to the Dominion to take up a position on the staff of the Cathedral Grammar School, Christchurch. As foreigners, he and Mrs Troup were allowed to stay in France provisionally, and for fifteen months after their arrival they battled w f ith the Labour Department to obtain the permits that are required by foreigners if they work in the country. In Vogue Everywhere. “ It is only fair to say,” said Mr Troup. “ that this system is in vogue practically everywhere in Europe in some form or another. Had we been foreigners going to England, we would not have been allowed into the country unless we had shown we had enough money to keep us without working or that we had an appointment before reaching England. Everywhere because of unemployment these conditions are in vogue. The French Government was lenient in letting us in and allowing us to work till the question was decided, and they were slow in deciding it. “ The ground on which the permit was refused was that a Frenchman could do the work just as well, and that I, as a foreigner, was keeping a Frenchman out of employment. I had gone specially for the reason that they had been unable to find a Frenchman with the qualifications necessary to carry the work on, but by the time of leaving we had trained one of the Frenchmen working with us to a point where we believed, in case of emergency, he v'ould be able to carry on. He has accepted the position I held. If he is able to make good then the object of our trip will have been achieved.”