H.—lla

Auxiliary. To them the Emergency Fire Service was added as part of the Emergency Reserve Corps in February, 1941. Enrolment in these organizations was voluntary until the gazetting of the Emergency Reserve Corps Enrolment Order in January, 1942. This regulation, which was rendered necessary by the threat of Japanese invasion and the wastage from the Home Guard and the E.P.S as a result of the call-up of fit men for service with the Forces overseas as well as with Territorial units, obliged all male British subjects between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five to enrol in the Corps. 21. (i) The Home Guard. From its inception in August, 1940, until April, 1941, during which period it was organized on a voluntary basis by local bodies co-operating with the Department, the Home Guard reached a membership of over 100,000. An amendment to the National Service Emergency Regulations in the form of the Home Guard Enrolment Order No. 1, dated 30th April, 1942, required all men aged thirty-five to fifty inclusive to re-enrol in the Emergency Reserve Corps. Arising from this re-enrolment, some 31,000 of the 70,000-odd men who had enrolled for Home Guard service were inducted. The strength of the Guard after this accretion stood at the satisfactory level of 100,000 (September, 1942). This figure was substantially maintained until the dissolution of the Guard in 1944. Although the great bulk of Guard members was employed in industry, training and parades indirectly constituted a drain on industrial man-hours, while the provisioning and equipping of the Guard placed an additional burden on war industries. 22. (ii) The E.P.S. (Emergency Precautions Scheme) and the Civil Defence Sub-organizations.— Earthquake and flood visitations before the war had prompted a number of local bodies to improvise emergency measures of varying degrees of completeness. The foundation of the wartime E.P.S. was really laid a few months before the outbreak of war when the Internal Affairs Department, following consultation with the principal local authorities, issued handbooks under the title " Emergency Precautions Scheme," the first covering urban and the second rural localities. 23. Provision was made for the establishment of a Central Committee and a number of subcommittees specializing in particular fields, in some cases under the direction of a Dominion Controller. Particular fields affected were — Supply. Works. Transport. Fire. Medical. Accommodation and Evacuation. Law and Order. Finance. Communications. Publicity. 24. Following the gazetting of the Emergency Precautions Regulations in August, 1940, the Emergency Precautions Scheme was legally authorized and the responsibility for the overall initiation and co-ordination of the scheme was placed with the Minister of National Service. 25. Failing adequate voluntary personnel for the various branches of the E.P.S., compulsory enrolment in the Emergency Reserve Corps of all male British subjects aged eighteen to sixty-five who were not already serving in the Armed Forces or the Home Guard was directed by the Emergency Reserve Corps Enrolment Order of January, 1942. 23. The personnel problem of the E.P.S. was overcome by this measure, and the full-scale organization of civil defence measures (described at length in the Department's 1943 annual report) was quickly developed. 27. The grave danger of fire during war operations had evoked early in 1941 the establishment of the Emergency Fire Service as a separate branch of the Emergency Reserve Corps, but co-operating with the Fire Section of the E.P.S. A logical division of work between established fire brigades, Emergency Fire Service units, and the smaller fire patrols of the E.P.S. was adopted. 28. By the end of 1942 the Japanese drive southward had been halted and a streamlining of the entire civil defence organization took place. This continued until early in 1944, when the E.P.S. resumed its pre-war character —viz., that of an organization designed to safeguard against catastrophes unrelated to warfare. As from Ist April, 194-4, the Internal Affairs Department resumed the administration of the E.P.S. 29. (iii) Women's War Service Auxiliary.—ln July, 1940, the National Service Department convened a conference of delegates from women's organizations throughout the Dominion to co-ordinate the efforts of women assisting the war effort. From this conference there emerged the Women's War Service Auxiliary. It was with the co-operation of this organization that the National Service Department was able to initiate and administer many plans relating to the service and welfare of women in the Armed Forces and industry. 30. The Women's War Service Auxiliary itself contained voluntary workers of many types who were 011 call for a wide range of duties in an emergency. The improvement in the war situation from the beginning of 1943 considerably reduced the functions of the organization. It continued to act, though to a lesser degree, in an advisory and administrative capacity in conjunction with the National Service Department in matters relating to the service of women. It has also continued its activity regarding the welfare of all Armed Forces' personnel and in connection with war loans and the collection of clothing for war-devastated countries. The organization is represented on Food Committees and Rehabilitation Committees. 31. (/) Defaulters' Detention Camps.—Recourse to compulsory military service following the establishment of the Department in 1940 almost immediately posed the problem of how to deal -with the cases of conscientious objectors. Provision was made per medium of the Armed Forces Appeal Boards to deal with the cases of appellants against service on the grounds of conscientious objection, and it was recognized from the outset that a number of these appeals would be upheld. However, it was equally clear that a number of men whose appeal would be unsuccessful might still refuse service, while still others would adamantly refuse service without preferring any appeal. To meet such cases defaulters' detention camps came into existence, the first camp—Whenuaroa—being established 011 Crown land at Strathmore early in 1941. As the number of defaulters grew, further camps were established at Shannon, Hautu, Balmoral, Oio, Puketapu, Matanuku, Maramarua, Riverhead, Galatea, and Conical Hill. These camps have been directly administered by the National Service Department, special staff having been recruited as patrolmen and supervisors.

5