By Peter de Graaf
First it was men ordered to change seats so they wouldn't sit next to children. Then it was Santa being scolded for letting children sit on his knee.
It seemed a wave of PC mania was sweeping the country - but Advocate inquiries suggest the madness has largely
bypassed the North.
Dargaville's official Father Christmas, Harry Baycroft, said he had experienced none of the controversy dogging some of his fellow Santas around the country.
In Rotorua, one Santa reported young mothers called him "a dirty old man" several times every Christmas. But Mr Baycroft, who has been cultivating his beard for 27 years and was a semi-professional Santa in Canada, said a few mothers had stood "pretty close" while children made their requests from his knee, "but no one's made it an issue".
"If they take that away, they take away the whole crux of the thing - you sit on Santa's knee and tell him what you want."
Mr Baycroft put the lack of trouble down to Northlanders being "a pretty laid-back bunch of people".
"It's a pleasure being of service to them," he said.
Whangarei mum Taryn Haslem had no problem with her seven-year-old son Tahxae perching on Santa's knee for the Christmas ritual.
"It's what he's looked forward to every Christmas since he's been three. It's part of the magic," she said. The latest controversy began when an Auckland man was ordered to change seats on a Qantas flight because he was sitting next to an unaccompanied boy.
However, that doesn't seem to be a problem in Northland - perhaps because the planes are so small you're always an aisle away from your neighbour.
The region's bus operators are also less stringent than the national airlines.
Sharon Klinac, the owner of Northliner Express Coachlines, which operates buses between Kaitaia and Auckland, said her company had no set policy on unaccompanied children.
"If people are popping their children on the bus alone, the drivers and staff keep an eye on them - and we put them up the front of the bus if we can."
"I felt sorry for the bloke who got moved on the plane," Ms Klinac said.
