HOME GUARD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21819, 23 November 1940, Page 6

HOME GUARD

Not Strike-Breaking Body Strong Comment By Minister By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, November 22. Strong comment was made by the" Minister of National Service (the Hon. R. Semple) on suggestions that the Home Guard might be used for strikebreaking. A statement to this effect at the Palmerston North inaugural meeting has been brought to his notice on his return to Wellington after a tour through the North and South Islands, where he addressed dozens of public meetings and talked to thousands of people on the question of the Home Guard and its need for the defence of New Zealand. “There has not been one dissentient voice in any of these meetings or one sign of hostility to myself or the Government in its effort to create an organisation that can offer some resistance if this country is threatened with invasion,” continued Mr Semple. “As a matter of fact, as a result of my tour the Home Guard is daily growing by leaps and bounds. Suggestion Absurd “The statement that workers are not accepting my assurance that the organisation will not be used for strike breaking purposes is untrue as the results indicate. It is positively absurd. Any sensible, reasonable person knows that it is an organisation created for the opposite purpose, to protect and defend the liberty of the people, including the liberty of trade unionists. “For a clique at Palmerston North, or anywhere else, to accuse the Government of trying to smash unions, ’ concluded Mr Semple, “is the essence of cowardice and black ingratitude, something which bona fide workers will not swallow. If the enemy were at our gates—and the British Commonwealth is fighting for its very existence —there would in any case be no strikes to break. If there were strikes there are other ways of deal - ing with them than using an organisation which is non-political and nonindustrial.”