Rules and Orders of Home Guard

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 17, 21 January 1941, Page 6

Rules and Orders of Home Guard

Every applicant for enrolment in the Homo Guard is required to take an oath of obedience to ‘ 1 the Rules and Orders of tho Guard," and to make a solemn declaration in respect of the duties which lie undertakes that he will so far as lies in his power obey all orders and instructions issued by authorised persons and that in the event of an emergency arising from earthquake, lire, flood, epidemic or enemy action, he will place his services unreservedly at the disposal of the corps. The definito occasions for service are specified. They aro all occasions on which every one of us will want to help but the applicant may well ask what security is offered to him that he is not being asked to accept obligations which may react to his own injury either in pocket, health or personal liberty. The reply is to bo found in the constitution of the Guard as laid down in the Emergency Corps Reserve Regulations 1910 which provido rules covering the appointment of officers and the arrangements for training. All appointments of commanders below the rank of area commander shall bo made on the recommendation of the local Home Guard committee which shall also decido the times and places of assembly of the Homo Guard for training, parades or services.

These are all the rules that have been issued in respect of the duties of Guardsmen. The orders of the Guard of orders, but the question of Iho rights will of necessity be a continuing series of orders, but the question of the rights of the citizen are fully protected by that short paragraph. It will be seen that the Home Guard committee has a responsible function as .in settling the times of parades, etc., in consultation with the officers of the Guard. It may be called upon to decido to what extent tho urgency of the training requirements justifies the individual citizen being called to attend for instruction. If we accept the principle that some rapid expansion of tho defence forces is called for, we must appreciate that the Government had two alternatives—compulsion or a voluntary system. To deal with the wj?ole of the manpower of this country on a compulsory system, while providing safeguards for the rights and needs of the individual, would entail the setting up of a third balloting system with its attendant appeal boards. If we knew that we had ten years in which to make our initial experiment at the formation of a Homo Guard there might, be time to adopt this method, but we have not even 10 months. A compromise has been selected. Those single men between the ages of 38 and 46 who fall into the first group of the reserve are obviously the class who can best bo drawn upon with the minimum of interference with our social and economic lifo because the largo majority of men who occupy positions of importance in tho economic life of the community aro also men who have accepted social responsibilities and are married. It may become necessary to carry the process further and draw first upon the married men without children and then upon the family man, but in tho mcantinio it is urgently necessary that tho bulk of i'fs men of New Zealand should receive a certain amount of instruction and be organised into definite groups w’itli clearly defined duties.