I headed my amended draft with the words " What
you have to do to complete this form correctly." I then crossed out the word " complete " (which appeared to me to be sententious) and inserted the two words " fill in." I then came up against the word " you." Who, after all, was " you "? There was I found, an enormous variety of yous. There were stateless persons, and people who had not surrendered their Argentine nationality, and children of naturalised British subjects, and widows of enemy citizens, and exiles holding Nansen passports issued by the League of Nations. I therefore began all over again. " Do you," I enquired in friendly guise, " fall under any of the following categories: (a) A person who, having acquired British nationality has not as yet been abl.: to divest himself of Argentine nationality?" When I got to (d), under which I enquired whether the applicant was a White Russian holding a Nansen passport, I realised that these questions would only disturb and confuse the greengrocer's wife who wished to spend her holiday at St. Malo. I grappled with that form all tnorning and all afternoon. And in the end I came to the conclusion that it was better (more comprehensive and more comprehensible) as it stood. It remains the same to this day and on the whole it is good as forms go.
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