THE HOME GUARD

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23130, 20 September 1940, Page 8

THE HOME GUARD

♦ Reasons for Creation ' (rnr.sa association telegram.) WELLINGTON, September 19. Discussing the formation of the Home Guard, the Minister for National Service (the Hon. H. Semple) said that the only reason it was created Was to protect the lives, property, and liberty of our people. It had been said that the Government was creating a Fascist organisation. That was a deliberate misrepresentation. • An organised nation could discover where traitors were and put them out of action. A disorganised country was a fertile ground for a traitor, a term he preferred to “fifth columnist.” Every country in the world to-day had a percentage of traitors, and New Zealand was no exception. The Home Guard would serve to bring New Zealand people closer together, so that they would understand that they had a common destiny. “Even if there is no need to use the-Home Guard in defence of the country, and God forbid that we should, we would be a better nation for having rubbed shoulders together and created a better understanding of one another, true tolerance, and comradeship,” said Mr Semple. . _ . Referring to vanquished countries, Mr Semple said every vestige of liberty in them had been wiped out, and if the British Empire fell New Zealand would have to face the same fate. But the British Empire would never fall.