PROTEST BY WARDENS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1942, Page 2

PROTEST BY WARDENS

FAILURE TO UTILISE SERVICES IN RECENT EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY. DESIRE TO HAVE DUTIES DEFINED. Dissatisfaction with the failure of the authorities to make full use of the wardens in the recent emergency caused by the earthquake was expressed at a meet-, ing of wardens of the No. 3 District, held last night. Mr R. Lambert presided. It was slated that the E.P.S. had been brought into existence after the Napier earthquake to deal with any case of emergency; yet, when the opportunity arrived, their services at the time were not used. Members could have been on duty within an hour of the occurrence, and would have prevented the congestion of people in Queen Street, where, had the midnight shake been of the severity of the earlier one, there must have been many casualties. It was contended that the wardens were fully qualified to deal with the emergency, and it was regretted that the opportunity of putting their training to practical use was missed. Had the wardens been called out promptly, a complete report of the damage to chimneys could have been in the hands of the authorities twelve hours after the ’quake had occurred, and much duplication of reports would have been avoided.

The matter was fully discussed, and a motion that the wardens go into recess as a protest received considerable support, but was eventually rejected in favour of one asking the District Warden to request the Chief Warden to arrange a meeting of district wardens and endeavour to have the duties of wardens more clearly defined for any future case of emergency. Questions were again asked with respect to night lights. It was pointed out by the District Warden that letters on this question had been addressed to the District Lighting Controller, through the Chief Warden, on May 10 last, and again on June 24, but that no reply had been received to either of them.

VIEWS OF OFFICIALS E.P.S. SECRETARY & CHIEF WARDEN. The above report was submitted to Mr G. T. O’Hara Smith, secretary of the E.P.S., in the absence of the Controller, Mr T. Jordan. Mr O’Hara Smith pointed out that the report was concerned with the wardens of No. 3 District only. The earthquake itself, he said, should have been a sufficient intimation to all wardens to make immediate contact with all householders in their areas to ascertain how they fared. •In many cases wardens carried out these duties very thoroughly, but others apparently took no action at the time. There was little congestion of people in Queen Street and the responsibility, if any, of controlling traffic in this area did not lie within the duties of wardens. The reports on chimney, damage submitted by wardens were’ informative, but this could not be taken as a basis for essential repairs to chimneys or roofs to be undertaken, as it was requisite that the property-own-er or householder should give more particulars in order to determine whether chimney repairs were urgently required, particularly in cases where the occupants comprised young children and where means of cooking had been rendered useless. All wardens were asked, by contact through the district wardens, on the morning following the earthquake to submit reports of all damaged premises within their area. It would have been .quite impracticable for any warden to determine the amount of damage to any satisfactory degree before the order was given. As to the suggestion that the wardens should go into recess as a protest, Section Four of the Emergency Reserve Corps (Conditions of Service) Order, 1942, provided that “every person who is a member of the E.P.S. shall continue to be a member of that service during the present war and for six months thereafter, unless, in the meantime, he dies or is duly discharged or is duly transferred to another E.P.S. or branch of the Emergency Reserve Corps.” The Chief Warden, Mr W. Kemp, commenting on. the above report, said there certainly was some dissatisfaction among wardens in other districts as well. He was definitely of opinion, he said, that inadequate use was made of the wardens and their reports. He knew of specific cases in which wardens’ reports, marked as urgent, had not been acted upon.