HOME GUARD

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 137, 6 March 1941, Page 8

HOME GUARD

Membership Should Be 100,000 Soon PART IN DEFENCE

No Official Suggestion Of Conscription

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

INVERCARGILL, March 5.

“There is no official suggestion of conscription for membership of the Home Guard or for Emergency Precautions Scheme work/ according to the Minister for National Service, Mr. Semple. Enrolments for the Home Guard in New Zealand now total 70,000 and within the next few weeks it is expected that the membership will reach 100,000. Therefore, the Minister is very satisfied with the position.

“With 109,000 armed members of the Home Guard in various parts of the country and a strong force of trained territorials there will be a good defence organization in New Zealand,” he said, in an interview on his arrival at Invercargill this afternoon. “To provide the men with uniforms and equipment will be a problem, blit everything possible is being done in that direction.” The Minister said that In some quarters the calling up in the near future of lads of 19 years and men from 41 to 45 for home defence had been taken as an indication of conscription for the Home Guard. That was not the case. Members of the Home Guard received only spasmodic training, whereas the men to be in the fifth ballot for Territorial service would be given a thorough and intensive training to equip them fully for any emergency. There was no need for conscription for the Home Guard and no such measure would be introduced.

A suggestion had been made that in vulnerable areas where invasion was more likely to take place, members of the district Home Guard should be drilled and equipped by the Army Department to bring them to the highest standard of efficiency. Members of the Home Guard would in -such case still retain their original identity. “Later on the Government will have to take greater responsibility in the matter of meeting the expenses of the Home Guard,” added Mr. Semple. “It is a policy question, but when it comes to the defence of New Zealand and the protection of the lives and liberty of the people, the Government is not going to haggle about costs. Prosecution of the war comes first and cost second, provided there is no extravagance."