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Accordingly I went to a Chinese clerk in the General Office,
and although I told him that my application was urgent and informed
him of the fact that I was a Consul, he insisted upon proof of the
urgency and I had to produce a letter showing that the circumstances
I had related above were facts. He then stated that he would treat
the matter as urgent and that if I returned the next day the visa for
my wife's passport would be ready, but that with regard to the nurse's
entry permit, I must go to see the "General Agent" at 3a Wyndham Street
to whom he wrote a memorandum as to the urgency of the matter.
I then left and sent my clerk to see the General Agent; he was
informed at the Agent's Office that he would have to pay a fee of $2.00
(being the statutory fee) and in addition $1.00 for his, the General
Agent's services in connection with the matter, and that he was to
return the next day.
On the 19th February my clerk returned to Wyndham Street where he
was told that the permit would not be available for at least 7 days
and accordingly, on my instructions, my clerk asked for and received
back the application.
I then went to the Immigration Office and saw the chief clerk
to whom I related what had happened and he then marked the application
form "urgent" and said I could have the permit that afternoon.
In the afternoon I went back to the Immigration Office and after
I had waited for over an hour the clerk produced the form of permit
from a bundle where it had been lying apparently completed all the time
He asked me for a fee of $2,00 which I refused to pay, showing him
the General Agent's receipt, but as he insisted I paid under protest
and the clerk then threw the permit on the counter in front of me.
On the following day my clerk went to the General Agent's office
and recovered the $2.00 which he had paid as a statutory fee, but he
was refused refund of the $1.00 paid in addition, although no services
had been rendered by the Agent.
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