FUTURE OF THE E.P.S.O.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 66, 17 June 1942, Page 4

FUTURE OF THE E.P.S.O.

REACTIONS of the more enthusiastic members of both County and Borough E.P-S-O. to the recent decree of the Minister of National Service, which enforces all fit members under the age of 51J years to- join the Home Guard (unless they hold key positions) can be readily understood. Whev ther we hold with the regulation or not we: must admit that the E.P.S. is on the main composed of men and women who have deligently practiced their duties in the pasl and have now just succeeded in attaining a fair standard of cohesive efficiency and understanding. It is recognised that the claims of the military is paramount at the present time but to drain a self-made and mainly voluntary organisation of 75 per cent, of its active personnel, will, as so many speakers have already pointed out, seriously impair the whole of the fabric of civilian protection. It is obvious that the Government at the present time is preparing for a more ominous state of emergency than a mere bombingraid or offshore shilling by vessels of the 'hit and ru&' variety, else it would hardly seek to so drastically curtail the activities of the civilian emergency corps.. It would be perhaps in the public interest to remind- our legislators of the greater likelihood of the forms of attack when the. Home Guard through possibly mustered, would remain ineffective, while the E.P.S. already drilled and trained for just such an emergency would swing immediately into action and find a wealth of real and vital work amidst wrecked * buildings,, blazing homes, blocked thoroughfares, smashed power and telephone lines and injured people.