N.Z. HOME GUARD

Grey River Argus, 21 July 1941, Page 5

N.Z. HOME GUARD

ARMY CONTROL SUGGnS'i’ED inEvV plan. AUIixIAIXU, JUiy 19. The whole xuiure ot tne Hume Guard m new zeaiana is said to oe invoiveu m proposals wmen nave ueeu under consideration by the War Cabinet. Aitnougn no aec.s.on mo yet peen announced, it is comiuer.t-y oeneved tnat in a snort time tne Army will take over control oi ha reasonably lit 1-iomc Guaidsmen. 1 Tnere is every reason tor Leiicvlrig that tne proposals supersede a plan, made aoout two months ago for th; Army to taxe over .jmy a ver v i.timed numoer of tne Home Guard. Colonel M. Aldred, Home Guard commander for the Auckland district, said tnere was now every cnance thai. the Home Guard_ in New Zealand, as in Britain, would be allotted a dennite part in the defence of the country. Inis would mean tnat all reasonably fit men would come more, directly under Army control and that arms, ammunition, and equipment of all kinds would be more readily avai.able. “Until the proposals are approved' bv the War Cabinet,” said coianei Aidred, “I am not at liberty to give any details, but I have no hesitation •n stating that the plan, if given effect to, will be a vast improvement sin the existing conditions. “As far as I know, there is no question of guardsmen being medically examined o r being obliged to go into camp. The great thing is that the Home Guard will retain its identity, and will not be dismembered, as at one time seemed likely.” ft was said elsewhere that the new plan owes much t.o the expert interest taken in the country’s defence organisation by General Sir Guv Williams, K.C.8.. C.M.G., D. 5.0.. military adviser to the Government. While he was officer commanding-iiwhief Eastern Command, General Williams had many months of intimate exne>ience in the training of the Home Guard to help resist a German Invasion, and in exercises which he commanded before receiving his, present appointment, the Homo Guard “fought” alongs : de Regu’ar Armpersonnel and took an integral part in operations As a result of recommendat ons which have been made to the War Cabinet by General Williams, it is said that the British organisation will be taken as the mode' for the cohesion of the two forces —Armv and Home Guard—in New Zealand.