The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1043. CIVIL DEFENCE EMERGENCY SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 106, 29 January 1943, Page 4

The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1043. CIVIL DEFENCE EMERGENCY SERVICES

In determining immediate questions of policy concerning the Civi Defence Emergency Services the War Cabinet, as may be inferred from the statement by the Minister of Civil Defence, Mr. Wilson, has been guided by two main considerations. It has had to consider, in the first place, whether the present receding of the menace of a Japanese attack to a remoter distance could be regarded as indicative ot a greater degree of stability in the war situation in the Pacific as affecting Australia and New Zealand, or merely a temporary phase which might be ended by a new threat to our safety. It has had also to consider existing calls upon citizens for civil defence service in relation to the major problem of manpower for the armed forces and the urgent industrial requirements of the country. The two questions aie intei related. • i i x ti There has been a growing feeling in the public mind that the emergency precautions might safely be relaxed. The War Cabinet, on the other hand, does not see in the present war situation sufficient evidence of stability to warrant anything more than some such adjustment of the machinery of the emergency precautions organization -as will lessen the calls upon a proportion of citizens without impairment of Its efficiency. In short, nothing must be done to prevent it from being tuned up to concert pitch at. a moment s notice. At the same time it admits, in effect, the reasonableness of the point which has been raised that no additional calls should be made upon the time and energies of citizens other than those which are at present regarded as vitally essential for existing requirements. Most people will agree that the War Cabinet has taken a wise ana prudent course. It has access to information concerning the war situation that necessarily is not available to the public, and must be pi esumed to have arrived at its decision after carefully weighing the tacts. With a full sense of its responsibility it has refused to yield to the pressure from certain quarters for a substantial relaxation of our precautionary measures. Whether it has been over-cautious may be a mattei of opinion, but it is better to be sure than sorry. If in the new measures under contemplation some relief can be afforded the manpower problem, particularly in industry, that will be as much as may be i easonably expected, and it will be most welcome.