E.P.S. ORGANISATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 5 February 1942, Page 2

E.P.S. ORGANISATION

PROGRESS IN RECRUITMENT MINISTER SPEAKS TO MEMBERS Progress in the recruitment and organisation of E.P.S. personnel throughout the Dominion was outlined by the Minister of National Seri vice, Mr Semple, in an address to E.P.S. members in the Wellington Town Hall last night. There was an I attendance of over 500, including many womenThe Mayor. Mr Hislop, who presided. said the}' had been building up the E.P.S. organisation for two years, and now he felt confident that it would be able to “put up a good show” in the j event of emergency. Much progress j had been made and they were now ; rubbing the rough edges off the organ, i isnt.ion. ! Mr Semple said he was not there to ! lecture them or find fault with what j they had or had not done- Some months ago he had been requested by the Prime Minister to undertake the organisation of the Home Guard. E.P.S. and Women’s War Auxiliary I organisations. His personal experience throughout the country then had ! convinced him that 60 per cent, of tl\e people he met did not take the situation seriously. Consequently progress had been slow. He had found a shortage of 20,000 in the required personnel of the E.P.S. Time was too short to plead any longer with people who had had two years to decide, and on his recommendation, the War Cabinet had adopted compulsion. While men were fighting and dying overseas, it was equally right that people in New Zealand should be forced to do what they should doSince Christmas he had been working night and day meeting representatives of E.P.S. organisations and dis- j cussing the situation with them. He had no hesitation in thanking them publicly for their inspiration and initiative, but on the other hand, others had stood outside with folded arms, doing nothing. “Now they are being brought in, and if they do not give service we will want to know the reason why- The hour is past for talking. The hour has come for action.” said Mr Semple He had spent the whole of yesterday in conference with engineers and re. presentatives of the building trade; concerning getting the necessary labour to build air-raid shelters in Wel-

lington and other cities. There was a collective responsibility, however, resting on others. They had to forget all the minor dividing issues of peacetime. There was only one issue now. and that was to save New Zealand against invasion. All had to pull their weight to rescue New Zealand from the potential clutches of potential Japanese invaders—cruel, vicious, monstrous, bloodthirsty and ambitious. Mr Semple said that the moment politics interfered with those paid to plan the strategy and organisation of the Army, the latter was finished as an instrument of efficiency. He stood there to convey instructions given by the Army chiefs through the War Cabinet. He had the greatest confidence in New Zealand's three service chiefs who sat with the War Cabinet.