THE HOME GUARD

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24209, 26 February 1942, Page 6

THE HOME GUARD

Having laboured long under a sense of being ignored and neglected, the Home Guard, through some of its responsible officers, is demanding that its position should be defined and its needs considered The question of personnel has been most emphasised. The Home Guard is now virtually the only voluntary body remaining within She frame work of the defence organisation By applying compulsion to service with the E.P.S., the authorities ; have automatically gathered into it ;all who were available to swell the ranks of the Home Guard, and have | thus threatened to make its strength static, if not liable to shrinkage. It has been conceded that it has a part to play in the defence of the country; according to the view taken in the United King dom, its role can be of first-class importance. That being so, it should have a call on available manpower equal, if not superior, to that of the E.P.S. This can be conceded without there being any rivalry between the two. The proper form of total mobilisation would provide for both organisations according to their needs in men and equipment, and the decision would be made by the responsible authorities. There is, moreover, much force in the contentions of Major Melrose, of Hamilton, that the emphasis should be on

facing and resisting the enemy rather than on preventing or patching up damage attack might do. As the organisation which represents active defence, the Home Guard deserves a higher place in the regard of the community and more consideration from the Government, than it has had up to the present.