HARD-WORKED PERMIT OFFICE
Criticism has been offered by certain people lately of the delays at the Military Permit Office, 19 Bedford-square, and a representative of The Daily Telegraph, who has himself on several occasions, for private reasons, had to present himself at this office for the usual passport facilities for Paris writes, in justice to the hard-worked staff at this place, of his own experiences:
There has been a tremendous rush for visits to France since the armistice by people with imaginary business. The least casual observance of the proceedings at 19 Bedford-square, will be sufficient to convince the observer with experience of a visit of a couple of years ago that the applicants for permits have increased quite tenfold. It will be equally apparent from a visit to the inside to get one’s passport viséd that the number of the staff seems to be practically the same. A passport examiner cannot be produced in a day; he is the product of weeks of careful training, and it must be remembered that any mistake on his part may lead to the unfortunate traveller being sent back when he has completed half his journey – a result which might then properly justify his indignation.
But to complain, as has been done by some ill-informed people, that the staff is discourteous, is absolutely unjustified. Certain formalities, even though the war is to all intents and purposes over, have to be rigidly observed. One of these is that trade representatives – men who are engaged in carrying on the important industrial relations between this country and our great French ally – must take precedence over all private travellers. People who desire to travel for purely social purposes cannot yet be considered; shipping facilities, even with the reopening of the Boulogne route, are still far too limited to allow the ordinary tourist traffic to be resumed, but no person is refused facilities for proceeding abroad provided he or she can produce necessary and adequate reasons when questioned by the examiners.
There must always, of course, among the hundreds of persons who visit the premises be some fussy, inconsiderate, time-wasting person who will either not answer a plain question plainly and sensibly or who produces wrongly filled-in papers, or inadequate documents, or none at all. The process of putting such people right, naturally enough produces sometimes a good deal of dissatisfaction on their part, and the examiner has rather a strenuous time of it. One marvels sometime that he keeps his temper so well. One cause of disappointment is that persons will not understand that they cannot yet be permitted to visit friends in the zone of the armies.
“My own opinion is,” continues our representative, “that were the staff considerably strengthened numerically, the congestion would he greatly relieved. This is really the crux of the situation, and no doubt the powers that be, when transport facilities are increased and permit of more extended travelling, will see to it that the present officers are increased in number. Judging from my own observations, I should say that the average time occupied in passing an applicant by the examiner is from quarter of an hour to 20 minutes. Exceptional cases take longer, I suppose; but in my own case the process occupied 10 or 15 minutes. My experience of the conditions on the boats to France shows that the Military Permit Office in London passes just enough passengers to fill these comfortably, but it is evident that as the cross-channel boat service is increased so also must be the examining staff at the Military Permit Office. No doubt there has been some congestion lately, as hundreds of people – Cabinet ministers and others for the Peace Conference – have had to be dealt with, in addition to which there have been the delegates to various conferences abroad – Labour, Socialist and others.”
Another correspondent, writing on the same subject, says: “My own personal experience is that the officers concerned are extremely patient and helpful, while very thorough in their work. I have watched them discussing the situation with impossible ladies with unfailing politeness, but unmistakable firmness. It is only the dissatisfied who are noisy; the vast bulk of satisfied people are silent.”