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Archiver > SOUTH-AFRICA > 1997-10 > 0875943503


From: MICHAEL O'CONNOR<michael.o' >
Subject: Re: Currency problems : suggestion
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 07:38:23 +0200 (GMT)


Eric wrote :

>In the light of the awful costs involved in paying for foreign
>certificates would it be practical for us to start some sort of
>"you get mine and I'll get yours" exchange system. Say, for
>example, I need a certificate from the Cape I could post a message
>asking if anyone needed a certificate from anywhere in Australia and
>wanted to swap orders. I could order their specified certificate
>using my Australian cheque while they get the specified one I need
>with their South African cheque. The same could apply for any
>other country.
>
>With all good wishes........ Erica Hills in Perth, Western Australia

Good suggestion Eric but when it comes to genealogical co-operation from
government departments, South Africa is a non-starter. For instance we
cannot write to our government department and ask for a birth certificate.
We have to give them all the details (e.g. date, place and parents) before
we can get it. Unlike Australia where you can pay the registrar for a
"search", this does not exist here in South Africa and there certainly are
no indices on CD's available. Certificates, so to speak, are just official
confirmations of what you already know. We cannot even photocopy death
notices (the most vital piece of records available to us) in our archives.

So your very good idea, which has much merit, would mean that from South
Africa you would in most cases just get hand copied records.

Don't know how others on line locally feel?
Regards
Mike
Michael O'Connor
Orchid Grower and Genealogist
Researching the names O'Connor/Connor/Connors
Pietermaritzburg
South Africa

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