Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 12, No. 2, March 16th, 1949.
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Section 23 (3) of the former gives the Minister of Internal Affairs the power by order "to deprive any New-Zealand citizen who is a naturalised person of his New Zealand citizenship if he is satisfied that that person has shown himself by acts or speech to be disloyal or disaffected towards His Majesty." It becomes abundantly clear that this provision grants the Minister powers which formerly no court of law possessed. It is unique among the statutes of any British country. For the purposes of the Aliens Act, the person so deprived of his citizenship thus becomes an alien. The Aliens Act contains provisions even more sweeping and gives the Minister in Charge of Police blanket powers to "order any allen to leave New Zealand if he is satisfied that it is not conducive, to the public good that the allen should remain in New Zealand." There is no appeal to the court against such an order and the alien must leave the country within 28 days. Section 15 (1) goes on to state that when the Minister has ordered any alien to leave New Zealand he may, if he thinks such a course necessary "authorise the arrest of that alien and his deportation from New Zealand on a ship or aircraft specified by the Minister and about to leave New Zealand and thereupon any constable may without warrant arrest that allen and place him on board that ship or aircraft, and detain him until the ship or aircraft has left New Zealand." (2) When any alien ordered to leave New Zealand has been so arrested he may, pending his deportation from New Zealand, be detained in such custody as the Minister may direct.
This type of legislation is repugnant to the democratic traditions of this country, and the sooner the offending sections of these Acts are removed from the statute books the better.