E.P.S. TRAINING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5599, 31 March 1943, Page 4

E.P.S. TRAINING

DANGERS OF INACTION Civil defence organizer will be fortified in their task of maintaining the continuity of E.P.S. training, by the remarks of the Government’s adviser (Mr Hamann) made on his return last week from a tour of Australia. “The efficiency of the service cannot be got simply by touching a switch,” he said, after warning New Zealand groups not to make the mistake of relaxing simply because, for the time being, the danger of enemy attack appears to have receded. This is very true. A part-time organization of civilians, such at the E.P.S. represents, is knit together by a fabric of interest, loyalty and discipline, which, however effective it may be in a time of looming peril, can disintegrate rapidly if neglected during a long period of inaction. Like any structure, civil defence is much more easily and cheaply preserved than rebuilt. Not only that, but—as Mr Hamann has emphasized—it cannot be rebuilt, and put into efficient operation in a twinkling. By any reasonable measure of prudence the case of maintaining at least a strong cadre of every important branch of the E.P.S. is unanswerable. The real problem to-day is not whether to do this, but how best to do it.