Civil Defence ‘New Image’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31702, 11 June 1968, Page 22

Civil Defence ‘New Image’

Recent emergencies in the South Island had given the public a new image of civil defence and had, he hoped, destroyed the old image of a private army, said the South Island Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence (Brigadier J. T. Burrows), at the annual conference yesterday of the New Zealand Institute of County Clerks.

“The new image is that local authorities are not a civil defence organisation, but organised for civil defence,” he said. “They have shown their ability to co-ordinate services, with a place for the specialist volunteer. There is no private army here. It’s gone with the badge and the tin hat.”

Brigadier Burrows said that between April 11 and May 13, 12 local bodies in the South Island had suddenly been brought face to face with situations beyond their own resources. In every case, whether or not an emergency had been declared, civil defence units were deployed. “There are a great many lessons to be learnt,” he said. “Civil defence has to be flexible, and our task now is to profit from those lessons to ensure that local authorities can deal confidently with emergencies that may arise.” One point which had emerged, he said, was that there was an organising job for local councils. All councils involved in the recent emergencies would be the first to say that their councillors were not sufficiently conversant with the Civil Defence Act, its powers and authorities.

“This means you,” Brigadier Burrows told the county clerks. “Unless councillors

know what civil defence can and will do, they will remain reluctant to give the word to set emergency powers in action.”

He then turned to the Christchurch emergency with the Easter floods, and said that some civil defence units were called in, though no emergency had been declared, and there was no power to use civil defence units in this way. There were divided opinions as to whether it was advisable to lend units to other people. The Southland floods were grave enough for an emergency to be declared. All that followed was a fine example of a local body setting up its own organisation, with happy and successful results. “It was exactly the same at Westport, Inangahua, and Reefton,” he said. “The local bodies had complete control, and, more important, inspired public confidence by that control. 1 “At Inangahua, the council

•declared the emergency, made full use of its powers, and this resulted in the operation of almost every civil defence activity from rescue to registration.

“From my own point of view, I had no problems, and magnificent co-operation from the armed services and Government departments." Brigadier Burrows said that the test for the declaration of an emergency was when it was clear that there was a threat to life, or distess for many people, that was beyond the normal resources of the council or the police. One thing that had emerged was that local civil defence units went into action without an emergency declaration. Nobody was going to wait. That was common sense, and gave the public a realistic picture of civil defence. Referring to contention on the name of the organisation, Brigadier Burrows said that it was difficult to find a suitable name that conveyed local authority action to meet a local disaster. “Let’s forget the civilian army, Let’s look at it as an extra task for local government that is proving to be worth while,” he said.

Civil defence had been a dirty word for some time in spite of the efforts of Brigadier Burrows and his team, said the Wallace County Clerk (Mr J. A. R. Walker). The emergencies had meant the acceptance of civil defence by the public.