MR SEMPLES REPLY

Grey River Argus, 1 May 1942, Page 4

MR SEMPLES REPLY

ALARM BUNGLE Wellington Mayor blames wrong party. WELLINGTON, April 30. “Enquiries havb been made by various authorities concerned as to the reason lor the confusion wmen occurred m the connection with tn a arrangements for a practice alarm in the city of Wellington last night, said the Minister of National Service, Hon. R. Semple, in a statement tonight. “I should like to preface my remarks by saying that the procedure which the Mayor, Mr, Hislop, described as being followed in these circumstances is correct. Arrangements were made with the Nat .onai Service Department for a practice alarm, and these were communicated to the r,.ithorities concerned, and the “yellow,” “red”- and ‘ signals were given by the Military District Headquarters Wellington, to the E.P.S. control room at the time that was arranged:- There is no truth, therefore, in assertion tnat tne arrangements were bungled by the National Service Department, and Mr. Hislop can, therefore, be assured that he will, for the future, get the same efficient service from this department as he has received in trie P a st. ‘ , “I can only regret tnat he has so hastily gone to the press with an indictment against The Department. If he had taken the time to ascertain the facts, he would have discovered that his charge was completely unfounded. The reason for the premature alarm in Wellington was the comunication to the E.P.S. headquarters of a message, at 6.33 p.m., mentioning that the “Red Signal” had been given in Christchurch. This message did not concern Wellington, and it should not have been passed to them. Nevertheless the E.P.S. official who received it interpreted it as an alarm for Wellington, and the sirens were sounded. Pnis is quite understandable, when you recollect the excitement at the time. The actual message given to the E.P.S. Headquarters was as follows: “Trial Christchurch Red.” There is not evidence that any confirmation of this message was requested by the E.P.S. Headquarters, although a later message, from the Telephone Exchange at. 6.45 p.m., ordering “Practice Red” for Wellington, might well have been constructed in this way. This latter message was passed by the Exchange, after hearing local alarms, and without appreciating that the original message, at 6.33, had mistakenly caused the alarms to go off. Enquiries show that a mistake was made both at the Telephone Exchange and at the E.P.S. Headquarters. The instructions which had been issued were clear and precise; and this was a case of tne failure of the human element. This is regrettable, but it can, and will be remedied by greater care on the part of all concerned. I sharei the regret expressed by the Mayor at inconvenience caused to essential war workers, travellers, and members of the public by the premature sounding of the alarm. It must be appreciated, however, that an actual emergency may occur without any warning whatsoever.

“The arrangement did show,” concluded Mr. Semple, “that the warning procedure should function in an emergency.”

Speech in Question

WERE WAR REGULATIONS BROKEN ? [Per Press Association.] , P.A. WELLINGTON, April 30. In the House to-night, a reference in a weekly newspaper to a speech said to have been made by the Mayor of Wellington, was the subject of an urgent question <to the Prime Minister by Mr. R. McKeen (Govt., Wellington South), who asked if Mr. Fraser’s attention had been drawn to a' leading article in _ the paper concerned, headed “Bitter Attack,” alluding to the speech. Mr. McKeen asked whether such a speech constituted a breach of the War Regulations. If it did, would the Prime Minister investigate the matter, and if necessary take some appropriate action? Mr. Fraser, replying, said that his attention had been drawn to an article by two persons, including one person from another Dominion. With regard to the second part of the question, it would, obviously, be improper for him to express an op'nion, but he added that he had approached the Mayor of Wellington on the matter, and had a short discussion with him. However, as His Worship was leaving the city, the matter had been left in abeyance, and he (Mr. Fraser) hoped that when he returned the whole matter could be cleared up. Mr. Fraser added that he aid not wish to comment further at the moment, except to say that the importance of the relationship between New Zealand and the Dominion concerned was so vital to the interests of this country that nothing would be left undone that would bind us closer 'to that Dominion,