MANPOWER ISSUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24189, 3 February 1942, Page 7

MANPOWER ISSUE

E.P.S. AND HOME GUABD

NEW ORDER'S ANOMALIES

IMPORTANT QUESTION RAISED

There exists among members of the Home Guard a widely-held opinion that immediate steps should be taken to effect a reasonable distribution of men, called upon by recent order to enrol in the Emergency Reserve Corps, between the Emergency Precautions Service on the one hand and the Home Guard on the other. There is also nothing to stop men not at present liable for being balloted for the Territorial Force or National Military Reserve from volunteering for either of these arms. The apparent effect of the recent Emergency Reserve Corps order is to create at least t\Vo important anomalies. No statement has yet been made showing that the authorities are aware of these anomalies and are doing anything to remove them. Unenthusiastic Guardsmen One is that membership of the Home Guard exempts men from enrolling in the Emergency Reserve Corps. There are hundreds of home guardsmen who are only nominally members of their units. Their attendances at parades certainly do not entitle them to be regarded as active members. Many of them are now asking their officers for a definition of their position under the new order which, while making enrolment in the Emergency Reserve Corps compulsory for all men not otherwise exempt, does not extend compulsion to these formerly unenthusiastic members of the guard. In turn, some at least of the Home Guard officers would prefer to drop these men and fill their ranks from other sources. Such a source is now available as a result of the Emergency Reserve Corps order. It is obvious that there are many areas where the formation of an Emergency Precautions Service is either totally unnecessary or second in importance to filling vacancies in the ranks of the home defence forces assigned to those areas. This is the second anomaly apparently created by the new order. Relative Needs of the Services For instance, in some of the localities where home guardsmen are busy building defence posts there are farmhouses whose occupants must under the recent order enrol in the Emergency Reserve Corps. The only emergency of vital national importance in their areas which can arise is a decidedly military one. It is asked: "Would it not be sensible to draft these men to the Home Guard or other units charged with the defence of these areas?"

The argument is based upon the profound change which recent events in the Pacific have effected in defence preparations in New Zealand. All the military steps which ha.e of late been taken have been carried out with one end in view—to withstand, not merely a sudden lightning hit and run raid, but a full-scale invasion. If this is so, then necessarily, it is argued, the Emergency Precautions Service, while remaining essential, should not compete with the more vital importance of filling whatever vacancies there are in the ranks of the armed forces. If it is intended that enrolments in the Emergency Reserve Corps are to be distributed between the E.P.S. and Home Guard or other fighting units, there is certainly a desire among members of the Home Guard that such an intention should be stated. One means of effecting the distribution has been suggested. That is, the establishment of a special tribunal to consider the relative needs of the two organisations, E.P.S. and Home Guard, in the various areas, and to give priority to whichever has the more urgent work to perform.