Doubling In Home Guard, E.P.S. Organisations

Northern Advocate, 13 January 1941, Page 4

Doubling In Home Guard, E.P.S. Organisations

Seme difficulty is being experienced in the Whangarei district in selecting suitable men as commanders of Home Guard units.

The Emergency Precautions Organisation was the first to make a move and selected men for key positions. These men have since been . advised •that they should not join up with the Home Guard.

“It is my opinion,” said Mr A. Clarke at a meeting of the Whangarei District Home Guard Committee on Friday night, “that these men should be in. the Home Guard.

Mr A. Wiblin said that a number of man in the county, who were in the E.P.S. organisation 'should be leaders in the Home Guard. Many of the older men in the Home Guard could do much of the E.P.S. work. “Quite a lot of good leaders are being lost to our movement,” Mr Wiblin added. The Battalion Commander (Colonel J. .N. McCarroll): There are three bodies in the Emergency Corps—the Emergency Precautions Scheme, the Home Guard, and the Women’s Auxiliary. Oath Only for Full Members. “The position is in the melting pot;’’ he continued. “Men have joined the Home Guard, signed the enrolment form and taken the Oath, which is only for men who desire to become full members of our organisation. “We are a civilian force, but with a prescribed military training. There is no training as yet laid down for the E.P.S. “It is no use whatever putting a man in charge of a platoon if, in time of an emergency, he is to be taken for the E.P.5.,” concluded the Battalion Commander. Mr Clarke moved: “That the Area Commander, with Battalion Commander and platoon commanders compile a list of E.P.S. men whom they wish to select for Home Guard positions; that they then get in touch with the Mayor and county councillors of the respective ridings with a view to having them released from the E.P.S.” In seconding the motion, Mr H. Boreham said there should be close co-operation with the E.P.S., as there may be many men whom it would not be possible to release. Conference Suggested. The whole trouble appeared to have arisen through the Emergency Precautions Scheme having been brought forward about a year previous to the Home Guard, said Mr J. A. S. Mac Kay. It was quite possible that now there would be many key men who would prefer to bo in the Home Guard. Mr Mac Kay suggested that a conference between the two organisations should be held. Mr Clarke: I quite appreciate that nothing should be done to get at cross purposes with the E.P.S. My motion is that a full explanation should be given to the Mayor and riding members of the reasons underlying the proposal. There is no possibility of antagonising the E.P.S. At Hikurangi no trouble had been experienced, said Mr R. Nesbitt. It may be, -that some members of the Emergency Precautions Scheme wished to stay in that organisation because there were no parades to attend. The motion was carried unanimously.