42 resign from civil defence

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33958, 26 September 1975, Page 1

42 resign from civil defence

Forty-two resignations have been received from Christchurch civil defence volunteers—and more are expected.

The former civil defence officer for Christchurch (Mr K. W. Waters) declined to comment last evening on the reason for his resignation, which became known this week. Mr Waters said he did not want to “become involved,” as matters in Christchurch had a history of being drawn out. “I don’t want to become a human football,” he said. When asked about the resignations of 42 civil defence volunteers, Mr Waters said he was very concerned about it.

The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr H. G. Hay) said last evening that a suggestion on television that the Christchurch civil defence organisation was falling apart was “nonsense.” When asked whether Mr Waters had resigned or been dismissed, Mr Hay said that Mr Waters had tendered his resignation.

Mr Hay, who is chairman of the Christchurch Civil Defence Committee, said that he had assured Mr Waters that out of consideration for him, he would not discuss his resignation publicly.

The matter of Mr Waters’s resignation had been considered by a full meeting of the Christchurch civil defence committee, which consisted of responsible persons from all local bodies in Christchurch, Mr Hay said. (The committee consists of the Mayors of Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Riccarton, and the chairmen of the Waimairi, Heathcote, and Paparua counties.) The chief welfare officer for the 10 Christchurch civil defence areas (Mr G. Armstrong) said that he had received 42 letters of resignation from civil defence

volunteer members in Christchurch, and suspected there] would be a lot more. "I am disgusted with the affair,” he said. “Mr Waters was responsible for making the civil defence what it is today. He brought it up from nothing to the efficient organisation it- now is,” Mr Armstrong said. "He has been sent overseas on training courses, and is a man qualified to give opinions in the case of an emergency,” he said. Mr Armstrongwas sure.

.however, that if an emergency occurred, the people I who had resigned would i come to the assistance of the (community. | “It’s a great shame. These 'people are qualified, and will ibe very hard to replace,” he said. Mr Armstrong said he bel lieved those who had resigned had been ill-advised, i “Incompatibility," said Mr Armstrong, was the only reason he had been given for Mr Waters’s resignation. “I have personally approached several persons to find the reason for the resignation, basically so that I can relay the information to my staff — but no information has been forthcoming," Mr Armstrong said. The area controller for Aranui (Mr W. S. Collins) said that area controllers had sent a letter to Mr Hay asking why Mr Waters had been asked to resign. “I received a reply yesterday saying that a meeting would be called on October 2, where the matter would be considered,” said Mr Collins. “As far as we are concerned, there are certainly no grounds for a dismissal on the grounds of incompetence," he said.