E.P.S. STRUCTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24950, 24 June 1942, Page 4

E.P.S. STRUCTURE

INDEPENDENT SERVICES NEED FOR UNIFIED CONTROL (Special) WELLINGTON. June 23. The steady increase of Government and other Emergency Precaution? Services, not under the control of local E.P.S. authorities, has been the subject of much criticism. That dissatisfaction exists is now admitted by the National Service Department, which has published a defensive statement in the latest issue of its periodical, the E.P.S. Bulletin. In Auckland, which is probably typical of the larger centres, there are .•low no fewer than 16 special E.P.S. Services. Some of these have been forrred by Government departments, such as Railways, Post and Telegraph, and Health. Others are concerned with activities carried oh by local authorities, such as hospital and electric power boards, or by private enterprise, such as long-distance transport and the oil industry. Control in a Crisis

These independent services were lately described by an E.P.S. official in Christchurch as, "at the best, friendly rivals with' us, and at the worst, not on speaking terms." The general opinion of those directing territorial E.P.S. services appears to be that, while specialised organisations for the most part should have a free hand in drawing up plans and preparing to meet an emergency, it is of great importance that the territorial E.P.S. authorities should have the right to obtain full information about such preparatory activities. Furthermore, in the event of an emergency, there should be in the region where it occurs one unchallengeable civil defence authority with power to order all necessary action on the spot until the emergency is over, and that authority, it is contended, should be the territorial Emergency Precautions Service. A special case which is widely held to need amendment is that of public hospitals, which are required to have independent emergency organisations. It is argued that hospital services in an emergency should be under similar control to the E.P.S. medical unus. which are responsible for first aid and transport of the injured. Another advantage of including hospitals in the territorial E.P.S. would be that the latter's works units would become responsible for providing them with raid shelters and structural protection of buildings. Defence of System

The National Defence Department, in its. defence of the present state of affairs, remarks that the first reaction of some members of local bodies to the creation of independent services was one of objection, "from a mistaken impression that the department was engaged on a thoughtless scheme of .needless multiplicity of E.P.S. organisations." It states emphatically that the whole aim is to be helpful, not vexatious, to local E.P.S. bodies. The public interest would suffer if national services such as the railways were made subject to local body control, especially as such services handle peace-time emergencies with great efficiency. One of the very important functions of the new district controllers and regional commissioners, the department states, will be in the co-ordina-tion and co-operation of local and special E.P.S. services. . .