Civil Defence

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30171, 1 July 1963, Page 3

Civil Defence

Sir,—Hie Minister Of Defence is reported as saying at a recent lecture course that some people think the Government lias not moved in civil defence fast enough, in that there is nobody running round in uniform with armbands, no sirens wailing, no cars and trucks tearing about. In four years, I have not heard of anyone wishing to don uniform. Uniforms have some advantages, but are too expensive. An armband is essential to differentiate between a trained civil defence volunteer and the well-meaning looker-on. The latter can do more harm than good, for example in extracting a casualty from a collapsed building. I cannot help thinking that the statement by this Minister was made to hide the fact that after all these years, there is still not one New Zealandtrained civil defence volunteer, in the proper meaning of the Act, and that his policy for the implementation of a realistic civil defence organisation is a complete failure. —Yours, etc.,

CIVIL DEFENCE. June 7, 1963. [The Minister of Civil Defence (Sir Leon Gotz) said: “The correspondent has obtained a wrong impression of my remarks at the opening of the civil defence courses in Auckland recently. What I did say was that before the general public would take any special interest in civil defence, they expected people to be dressed in uniform, tearing about at breakneck speed, etc., until a disaster suddenly hits them; then they would wake up and take notice.”]