COMPULSION FOR E.P.S.

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23545, 24 January 1942, Page 6

COMPULSION FOR E.P.S.

No Enrolment Forms

SITUATION AT POST

OFFICE

The announcement yesterday that service in ihe Emergency Precautions Services was to be made compulsory led to a big rush of men anxious to enrol at the Chief Post Office yesterday, but there were no forms available for them.

'The Christchurch City Council office had some forms available. There was a rush of. applicants there, and the council officers had to reproduce forms on a mimeograph machine. Even some of the original Home Guard enrolment forms were pressed into service. But the number of forms available in the city generally was not adequate for the demand, and ii seems that unless some action is taken immediately to fill the gup. there will bo a serious hitch in the arrangement for compulsory enrolment. Post office officials stated yesterday that they had not been officially advised that the offices would be the enrolment centres. The only forms that had been available for some time had been the special forms for the enrolment of communications sections. The post office staff bad absorbed most of those. There had been no demand for some time, it was stated, for such enrolment forms, but a very big rush had set in yesterday after the announcement that all men between the ages of 18 and 66 should be compulsorily enrolled. ‘’General Satisfaction”

As it was. there was a rush to enrol at the Christchurch City Council offices during the day. Before noon more than 80 applications were received, and after that hour, there was a steady stream of enrolments until the office closed. The Chief Warden 'Mr E. H. Andrews) said that general satisfaction was felt that enrolment had been made compulsory for all males between the ages of 18 and 66, “It should solve our manpower problem,” he said. “It is estimated that between 5000 and 6000 men are wanted for the Emergency Precautions Services, apart from those wanted for fire watching and 6000 is about the number we have now.”

It was probable, Mr Andrews said, that a selection committee would be set up to allocate fresh members to their duties. The committee would, for example, have to take any special qualifications of men enrolled. The personnel of the committee would have to bo chosen carefully. There was a fortnight during which those not already in the Emergency Precautions Services could join, and in that time those matters would be considered.