Civil Defence Training Measures Outlined

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30761, 27 May 1965, Page 9

Civil Defence Training Measures Outlined

The case for a national civil defence training school has been put to the Government and is presumably being considered, says Mr J. Leggat, civil defence officer for the Christchurch City Council.

In the meantime, the Government has made money available for district courses. The next South Island course will be held at Lincoln College in August, he says. It will deal with the establishment and organisation of welfare centres. Representatives from all parts of the South Island will attend.

Mr Leggat gave this information in the course of a reply to a correspondent of “The Press” who. in a letter to the editor, said: “For the last six years letters have been published in your newspaper urging the importance of steps to implement a practical and realistic civil defence organisation. At least five years ago the need for a civil defence training school was urged. The Auckland civil authorities have now announced that the city is totally unprepared for any natural or man-made disaster, and that the importance of establishing a training school is paramount. This state of affairs also applies to Christchurch, where the civil defence scheme is barely worth the paper it is written on, in that nothing additional of a worth-while nature would happen in an emergency which would not

have taken place before civil defence was thought of. In view of the vital importance of civil defence in the event of any form of major disaster, it is high time for a public outcry.” Realistic Plan

Mr Leggat says the Christchurch plan was produced by a group of responsible citizens (under the chairmanship of the deputy-mayor of Christchurch), approved by the Ministry of Civil Defence and adopted by the mayors and chairmen of the metropolitan local bodies as being realistic and likely to prove effective. “It is true that it does not create an expensive civil defence organisation, as in England, and that it is based on agencies and societies already in existence. This was purposely done, for these agencies, the fire brigade, the Red Cross Society, the St. John ambulance, the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps and others already exist for the the protection of the citizens, and that is civil defence," he says “We hope that by coordinating their work with the many engineering and local body services available, with Government departments and with the work of men and women of experience and ability, we can save time and lives, and alleviate distress, if the need arises. “Civil Defence” wishes to know more of this co-ordination, I would be happy for him to see me,” says Mr Leggat.