The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1941. MANPOWER AND NATIONAL DEFENCE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 137, 6 March 1941, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1941. MANPOWER AND NATIONAL DEFENCE

Figures given by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in his address to the Municipal Conference in Auckland on Tuesday provide a revealing summary of New Zealand’s contribution, to date, to the Empire’s fighting Services. Mr. _Fraser’s statement, which appeared in yesterday’s news columns, disclosed that “well over 30,000” men have left the Dominion to fight in various spheres of action. This is an achievement to be proud of, especially when it is remembered that nearly all of these men have gone forward either fully or partly trained, some in highly technical ways. We are providing more than merely manpower. Within the limits of our facilities and equipment we are providing’skilled warriors for every fighting Service. Turning to home defence, Mr. Fraser gave an accounting which was equally interesting.

He said that when the Permanent Force, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in training, the Territorial Force, the National Military Reserve, and the Home Guard (when, it was suitably trained and adequately armed) were included, there would be available considerably more than 100,000 men who could be called into action to defend the Dominion’s shores.

This is a substantial combined force. Unfortunately it is still, in part, a force on paper only, for Mr. Fraser’s reservation in respect to the Home Guard referred no doubt to a position which is still far from satisfactory. The Home Guard has yet to be provided with uniforms, though these have been promised. What is more important, the Guard has yet to be armed and trained in the use of arms. The Emergency Precautions Scheme was linked in Mr. Fraser’s statement with the Women’s War Service Auxiliary and referred to as absorbing part of a “very large proportion of the adult population of New Zealand actively engaged in national war service.” This may be true, but the fact remains that the E.P.S. is far short of sufficient enrolments to fill its many branches. Aside from the fact that the E.P.S. has reached, a stage of active development in only one or two of our coastal centres, it is not receiving the support-of more than a fraction of those civilians who are in a position to devote spare time to training. The Minister of Manpower, Mr. Semple, stated .in Invercargill yesterday that he was “very satisfied” with this state of affairs. It would be interesting to learn whether this satisfaction is shared by E.P.S. organizers in close touch with the position.

Mr. Fraser’s picture is that of a Dominion organized for war service and home defence. It would be a more impressive picture, and still more to our credit as a common-sense people, if our organization were balanced, equitable and complete—if the principle of national, obligatory service for all, in all branches of service, were introduced without delay. In the Home Guard this would enable the immediate building-up of units to full establishment strength, the infusion of a much-needed discipline, and the weeding-out of men who for reasons of age or physical defects would be better placed in other units. For the E.P.S. it would have similar results, plus the added advantage—if obligatory service be made truly national —of being able to share in tapping the large reservoir of active womanpower which is available in the country. It is disappointing to learn from Mr. Semple that the Government at present can see no need for an extension of the sound principle of obligatory service to the whole, rather than to a part, of this country’s defence requirements.