TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays FRIDAY, 13th FEBRUARY, 1942 THE E.P.S. TRIAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays FRIDAY, 13th FEBRUARY, 1942 THE E.P.S. TRIAL

IT may be accepted that the onset of the wut in the Pacific has compelled the people of this Dominion to think of their position in terms of possible, if not imminent danger, and inevitable responsibility. The calamitous events of the-past few months have brought the menace of attack to our very doors. This is no time for any form of panic. Rather is it a time for the sober calculation of every possibility, ;for prompt and firm decision and for Instant acceptance on the part of evqpy/person in the community of tasks and duties to which he may be all&ttdd: It is incumbent upon all the psbple of this Dominion to realise the necessity for exerting their greatest efforts in.the common cause. Fortunatdly’evictence is not wanting that the gravity of the situation is recognised rtgfitfiere in Te Awamutu. Tile trjaj, of the Emergency Precautions S.eyvjce Organisation on Tuesday last-bore impressive testimony to the willingness of all classes of the community’ to co-operate in a moveent, th,e genesis of which is to be found in the oft-repeated but never hackneyed phrase ‘‘To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” It would be unwise, indeed impossible, to assert that the trial was without its blemishes, its deficiencies and its hitches. Very few machines run smoothly on the initial "turn-out, and the local E.P.S. organisation proved no exception to the acggjjted rule. But, after all, that was what the trial was designed to find out, so that in future they can be rectified and the goal of 100 per cent efficiency achieved. Of the deficiencies the -most glaring was the delay in dealing with “bombs,” which, had they been real live ones, would have exploded, created craters in the streets, demolished and set fire to buildings and launched anybody within coo-ee into eternity before the < fficial fire-fighters would have had a chance to arrive on the scene. The obvious lesson is that every E.P.S. official, to whatever other duties he may have been assigned, should also be constituted a fire fighter; the idea that it is “the other man’s job,” savours of-trade-unionism and not of an emergency. Taken on the whole, the trial served a highly useful purpose and demonstrated a wonderful spirit on the part of the people to “do their bit” in. the hour of crisis. That such a large Measure of success was achieved is'a, hiatter for all-round congratulation, and commendation. In that connection, a meed of praise is due to Mr Thomas Grant, who as secretary since the inception of the local E.P.S'., has laid the administrative foundations, truly and well. Imbued with a praiseworthy patriotic desire to help the war effort, he has laboured'fong hours—even when most people"tvere inclined to regard the E.P.S. as sort of an academical movement devoid of real value in war time. -When, with the advent of Japan into the arena of hostilities, the movement gathered momentum and justly -attracted recruits from all sections, his work, all of which has been performed gratuitously, increased enormously, but he performed it ungrudgingly, with enthusiasm and with thp success which the trial proved. His v .indeed, was the master mind on the” administrative side. To Mr Graham Macky is also due a note of appreciation, for on the practical side he devoted -his energies and undoubted abilities with enthusiasm and it must be a source of satisfaction to know that'the trial was marked with so few hitches, which, after all, it was anticipated, would occur. All in all, the proved highly valuable and will not only enable deficiencies to be remedied in the future, but will act as an incentive to still greater efforts in the days to come.