WIDE E.P.S. TRIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 143, 14 December 1942, Page 3

WIDE E.P.S. TRIAL

CONTROL BENEFITS

PUBLIC LEARN NOTHING

The first Wellington district E.P.S. trial has been held, over the whole of the city and the city environs, to Paraparaumu and Kaitoke. It is reported upon by those who took part in it as "excellent" and as "another farce"; it depends upon the point of view. Prom the point of view of control, district headquarters, Wellington City headquarters, area posts, it was a valuable and extremely busy experience of keeping tab with what was supposed to have happened and in ordering appropriate action and remedy;.but from the point of view of the public, for whose assistance and safety the whole E.P.S. exists, it got no distance at all. The people whom the E.P.S. exists to protect were taught nothing, nor will they learn from any number of "trials without inconvenience" what they are to do to work in with wardens, police, traffic, and other controls, no matter how instructed these may be and however well tied together by headquarters control. Still the people of this city have not the first idea how to take advantage of shelters "in streets, sections here and there, and in building basements. They do not know how to get av^ay from the solidly plate-glassed Willis Street or Lambton Quay by the not at all easy emergency exit ways; nor do they know how "to stay put" inside buildings with greatest safety. They do not know how to leave places of amusement quickly and safely. They learned nothing to such ends from yesterday morning's test because its hour, like all but one of earlier trials, tvas chosen to suit the greatest convenience of the greatest number possible, whereas in actual need the inconvenience would be complete, because no one except those with arm bands would know what to begin to do.

There has been effective concentration upon building up headquarters control, upon instructing wardens, upon the organisation of specialist units (medical, fire, works, rescue and demolition, communications, accommodation and supplies, etc.), all of which sections have- gone a long way, but there has been no concentration of effort to show people how they are to respond to what is done for them. NO REALISM.. As in earlier trials, there was, apart from the spectacular attack by three bombers hurtling through the sky not far, above the roof,tops> unopposed and without any fighter protection, so complete a lack of realism that even had wardens, police, and other controls made an attempt to stop or shepherd walkers and sightseers they would have got nowhere; some wardens did try m the mid-city streets, and nad to give it up, but in the suburbs they stuck to their authority and did make some people stand inside gates, where they saw the devastating attack almost as well. Dozens of people took pleasant shelter in the sun in front of the Railway Station, for instance, for it was a pleasant morning. KEY PERSONNEL IRATE. But if the public shed no tears, key personnel were highly concerned about the time they stood and sat about between the first warning and the siren alarm. The general picture of the attack was that a surface force of unidentified vessels was spotted by air reconnaissance, approaching Cape Egmont on Saturday evening, and that early on Sunday morning five more enemy vessels, possibly including an aircraft-carrier, were moving on to Wellington. Under the arrangements between the military authorities and the E.P.S. a "yellow" was to indicate the need for key men to stand by. The "yellow" came to E.P.S. headquarters at about 4.20 a.m. and within minutes; key personnel were notified by' tele- i phone. Out of pure kindness of heart dozens of these key men did the decent thing by their friends and gave them the tip, so by 4.30 there were hundreds awake and making, for their i posts, seriously rushing off to do their Job. In the fire stations brigadesmen manned machines, unwashed and unbreakfasted. Tramwaymen made for the barns to rush cars to termini to take rank and file personnel to their posts. There was a general genuine tearing in to town by those who had to be there first and others who had "got the tip," and there they stayed until quarter to eight with, nothing to do except to discuss variations upon the theme "I got the yellow at 4.20 (or 4.25 or whenever it was)."

The Mayor (Mr. Hislop), as District Controller, has expressed his opinion of this extraordinary delay as an absurd and irritating waste of time, in conflict with an assurance previously given him that the alarm would follow not later than approximately one hour after, the first standby warning. It was, he said, no fault of his that so absurd a position was created by the delay between calling, out of key personnel and the sending of the actual alarm signal from Central Military Headquarters at 7.45. "I hope," he said, "to receive an explanation in the immediate future."

Speaking of the exercise as a whole, Mr. Hislop commented: — "Having been in close personal contact With the whole operation, I am satisfied that the E.P.S. put up a fine showing and I take this opportunity of congratulating members. "In war you can't make' mistakes without paying heavy penalties. Therefore, whatever the position may be in the Pacific momentarily, it is our job to see that the E.P.S. in our area is kept in a state of efficiency to enable it to protect the lives and property of citizens against any attack." COMMISSIONER'S COMMENT. The Wellington trial was only one part of the wide exercise ordered by the Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, Colonel Ciochetto. In each E.P.S. area the alarms were given by the military authorities, but the local E.P.S. organisation was responsible for carrying out its own operational orders, with some degree of military and Home Guard co-operation. "From the initial reports received," states the Commissioner, "all ranks of the E.P.S. responded promptly to the calls made on their services. The trial gave very good results as a test for information and communications between the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Civil Defence. The times at which the warnings were sounded were determined by the situation as it developed over a very wide area. The E.P.S. controlling officers were required to send out signals and sound alarms at times conforming to the armed services' operations in the trial. "The next stage will be to assess the trial from reports received from civilian defence authorities in conjunction with reports from the armed services. The keenness and enthusiasm sho Nwn by all ranks of the E.P.S. in Wellington and other districts is to be commended. I am grateful indeed for the assistance and co-operation extended to me by the District Controllers, and other senior officers of the civil defence force."

L. HOUGH*