THE HOME GUARD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 26, 9 March 1942, Page 4

THE HOME GUARD

Sir, —We "write this letter to endorse most wholeheartedly, both for ourselves and also for the senior officers of our Battalions of the Home Guard, the protests -which have been registered by Major Melrose through the public press, that all which "ould be done is not being done for the defence ot this country. If it be possible at the present time for useful equipment for our forces to lie manufactured in our workshops, even though it be in > v „ the spare time of workers and at the expense of private donors of funds, then we ask why such funds and such resources in plant and labour are not being marshalled by those who direct the affairs of . our country. Surely the angels must weep at , the spectacle we afford at the present moment Avhen coincident w 7 ith our desperate needs and the appeals which are being made for voluntary mobilsation at defence force rates of pay, we still cling tenaciously to our 40-hour week. In this our hour of dire peril it is still possible solemnly to discuss the injustice upon men who, while engaged upon vitally necessary work, have not been paid on certain occasions the prescribed overtime rates. We venture to say that there is net one 1 loyal citizen whatever his political views, avlio would not welcome the most irksome restrictions and the heaviest sacrifices of his time or his money, if they be plac- - ed on the altar of our common good. The bogey of "regimentation" ,is a bogey no longer if we work together in the one cause—the defence of our country. All power to your arm, Major Melrose! To your protest we add our own small murmur in the hope that such rumours may grow into a roaring torrent of demand which cannot be ignored. Yours etc., IAN B. GOW, C.O. Rangitaiki Bn. H.G.' C. R. WILSON, C.O. Whakatane Battalion.