HOME GUARD MEMBERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20864, 17 August 1942, Page 2

HOME GUARD MEMBERS

EXPENSES IN COUNTRY Strong comment on the expenses which members of the Home Guard country units have to bear in fulfilling their obligations for training was made at a meeting of the Kairanga County Council, Palmerston North, when a deputation from E Company (Longburn and Kairanga) sought financial assistance. The members of the deputation pointed out that when the required number of hours of training had not been put in 1 there was rib capitation pavable, and the capitation was insufficient to meet the expenses which had to be met. Further, guardsmen had to buy their own petrol to attend the parades, which involved a very material amount of travelling in the country. Replying to the deputation the chairman, Mr. W. R. Hopcroft, said all appreciated the work being done by the Home Guard, but the guardsmen should take a stand. The Government was not treating the Home Guard rightly. He thought the situation had got to a ridiculous state when a Home Guardsman in the city had to put on his second-best suit and crawl around in dirt. “It is most unfair, when the mep are getting nothing, that they should not be even given the wherewithal to attend their parades," remarked a member. “The men in a conscientious objectors’ camp are better off than the Home Guard, for even they have denims to wear,” said the chairman. The council decided to forward its views in regard to the amount of aid given the Home Guard in the form of a remit to the Counties' Association, and also to the army authorities.