NOT REPRESENTED ON COMMITTEE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23750, 23 September 1942, Page 2

NOT REPRESENTED ON COMMITTEE

E.P.S. and Motor Impressment GOVERNMENT’S DELAY j The nomination of Mr W. Maclila ' as representative of the Metropolitan i E.P.S. on the District Motor .Vehicle : Impressment, Advisory Committee was made nine months ago, but the organisation has not yet received the Government’s approval of the appointment and the E.P.S. is still without a representative on the committee. This was made clear yesterday when a reporter drew Mr Machin's attention to a paragraph in the “Civil Defence Bulletin” for September stating that the chairman of an advisory committee could delegate to the E.P.S. representative power to impress vehicles “on the spot” for E.P.S. purposes should an emergency occur, “Very interesting information, but not applicable to Christchurch, because we have no representative on the committee,” said Mr Machin. The Metropolitan E.P.S., he said, had been .waiting ever since December for Ministerial approval of his nomination as the E.P.S. member of the committee. The paragraph in the bulletin states: “In reply to an inquiry the Director of National Service states that the Motor Vehicles Impressment Emergency Regulations, 1941, give to. the Motor Vehicle Controller jurisdiction over the allocation of all vehicles for all purposes, including the E.P;S. For each district a District Motor Vehicle Controller is appointed and associated with, him is a District Advisory Committee. which includes representatives of the armed services, the Emergency ■ Reserve Corps, transport Licensees, and such other persons as the Minister thinks fit. “A district controller: may from time to time delegate to any member of the District Advisory Committee (and therefore to the E.P.S. representative), either generally or in respect of any particular area, or in respect of any particular class of activity, any of his powers and functions. This power should enable vehicles to „be impressed on the spot for . E.P.S, {Wf-1 poses if an emergency occurs.” ./‘ynj