EMERGENCY SCHEME
TO OPERATE WITH HOME; GUARD
DECISION OF COUNTY COUNCIL
Stating that as yet the Council had not been able to obtain from the Government a direction of po~
licy regarding the Emergency Pre-i cautions Scheme, but that he felt the matter one of such urgency
that a decision regarding its organ-
isation should be arrived at before -<tbe meeting closed Cr J. L. Burnett, chairman of the Whakata'.ne •County Council, asked members yesterday for an expression of opinion as to whether the council would •operate the Scheme or would hand •over the control to the Home Guard. He stated that a suggestion had "been current that the Home Guau'd the Scheme, but as yet yftll were in the dark as to "what was >~the policy to be adopted. It was felt that the Council was. not ad,e-. j quately represented on the committee of the Home i* an <l lie was of the opinion the event of that organisatiorf asked to also administer the scheme in question, the Council should ask for representation to the extent of another three members on the executive. C'r Burnett continued to say that he felt that considerable overlapping would result if the Council was to undertake the Scheme, and there was also the difficulty that the Home Guard was organised and had its ranks many of the men who would have been very valuable in the other department. There was also the fact that most people wished to be Guardsmen—this being indicated by the fact that the roll tof the Guard numbered about 900, whereas the Emergency Precautions •Scheme had attracted only 40 to 50 recruits. Of course later it would be found by many older would-be guardsmen that the training was beyond them and then they would -automtaically fall in with the other •service. Not, he said. that, the latter scheme was one for only older men —it would require young men «qualtly,' as fit as required for the Guard —but the existing organisation r ould find the task of transferring members to different duties easier than the Council would find itf enlisting them. The councillors agreed that the >Guard Avas in a better position to organise the service and Cr L. Luxton stated that the opinion generally appeared to be that the Guard could more successfully operate both services. The clerk, Mr C. G. Lucas, said that he had made enquiries from •other Counties and found that in a number of cases the Emergency Precautions was considered a scheme more suited to larger centres, and that the Home Guard movement was Tbeing concentrated on by county councils. The chairman however, did not agree with this view, stating that the matter was one of urgency and that there was no time to be lost. "We have only one object in view," * he said, "and that is to ensure that this district has the best possible -organisation for its protection." It was decided on the motion of •Crs Spence and Cawte that the Home Guard be asked to organise the Emergency Precautions Scheme and that three more councillors be given positions on the executive -committee.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19410129.2.19
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 264, 29 January 1941, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
523EMERGENCY SCHEME Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 264, 29 January 1941, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Beacon Printing and Publishing Company is the copyright owner for the Bay of Plenty Beacon. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Beacon Printing and Publishing Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.