RESIGNATIONS IN E.P.S.

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 242, 14 October 1942, Page 4

RESIGNATIONS IN E.P.S.

TELEGRAM TO PRIME MINISTER CONFIDEN CE EXPRESSED IN COMMITTEE. A resolution asking the Government to remove the present system of control of the E.P.S. through regional commissioners was carried by a meeting of 500 metropolitan E.P.S. workers at Christchurch, when a meeting was called to consider the resignation of the organising committee. Confidence was expressed m the organising committee, which eonsists of Messrs W. Machin (chairman), M. E. Lyons, W. C. MacGibbon, and W. H. E, Flint. The following resolution was carried:— That this mass meeting of E.P.S. workers in the Christchurch Metropolitan Area, having heard the recital oi events by the organising committ.ee leading to their resignation, concurs ffi the view that the present dqnnnance by the regional commissionei system is inimical to efficiency. t expi esses thanks to the organisinv committee for the work they have acccmplished and its entire confidence in the committee, and urges them to continue their work contingent upon the Government removing ihe present system of control. It was then decided to telegraph the resolution to the Prime Minister and ask for urgent action. The mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews) as chairman of the central committee and chief warden, presided. He explained that the regional commissioner system in New Zealand was copied from the English system, though he did not think the commissioners in England had the full powers over civil authorities that were exercised in New Zealand. In any case, the circumstances of England, a densely-populated country in the centre of hostilities, were different from those of New Zealand. He received orders from the Regional Commissioner (Colonel W. T. Church ward) . COMM I T TEE'S WORK PRAISED. Mr Andrews said he had been told when he selected the organising committee that he had chosen some who were not popular. His reply was that popularity-seeking 9nen had ruined too many projects. He had wanted men of proved organising ahility and he had got them. They had done a wonderful work, and it would be disastrous if their serviees were lost. Mr Machin said earlier troubles of the Metropolitan E.P.S. had been over such things as emergency petrol, conflicting transport instructions, confusion in lighting eontioi and difficulties with large Government departments which considered they sliouid be a law unto themselves. These they regarded as the teething troubles, which they would soon get over. They had tried to make the new system with a regional commissioner work, but they had not succeeded, Mr Machin told the meeting. He described an interview with the Regional Commissioner and said that, when they asked if instructions he gave them could be discussed, the reply was given: "No. Those are my instructions. You must carry them out." Mr Machin alleged that an attempt had been made behind the backs of the organising committee by Government officials to alter the membership of the fire-unit committee. He said other Wellington officials had approached subordinate officers of the E.P.S. to iget them to form favourable opinions on some disputed questions. They did not want to attack the person who held the office of Regional Commissioner, which was the focus of privileged sections. MANAGEMENT FROM WELLINGTON. Mr Lyons said some Government I officials believed that the E.P.S. in J Christchurch could best be managed M from Wellington. He thought thea regional commissioner system wasB devised to increase centralisationi When a man was a corporal or ser-B geant in the Army and found h M could not carry on in the job he wen® to his commanding officer and askej to revert to the ranks. That waB what the organising committee wai doing. S

Since the committee had beguiM meeting there had never been a note| oi dissension, and there had never | been a vote, said Mr MacGibbon.| They had sat down under the direc- 1 tion. oi Mr Machin and had reasoned a things out. 1 "Mr Machin does not get a penny, 1 and neither do the rest of us," said I the mayor, when a questioner asked 1 if there were any truth in a rumour 1 that Mr Machin received £600 a i year. A questioner asked if there were fl dissatisfaction in other cities The 1 mayor said the police had prevented l the holding of a meeting in Dunedin, i and he knew that there was dissatis- 1 fariion about fire-watching in Wel- ! lington. Mr M. le Cren then moved the re- | solution. ' Mr G. S. A. Biltcliff said that if j the motion were passed they would J have condemned Colonel Churchward Jj unheard. No doubt everything that | had been said was correct, but ■ Colonel Churchward was entitled to.M be heard. fl "Colonel Churchward as Colonel J Churchward can be left out of thffl ciseussion altogether," said Mr Lyon,c^| "We are against the system of anyfl one having the right to give orde'ifl in this way to the mayor." ^fl Reply ing to another speaker, tlfl inayor said politics had never entere^H into the E.P.S. fl Mr C. H. Clibborn moved fl amendment ex pressing confidence the Chief Warden and the organisjfl committee, and pledging personfl to continue working under their cfl trol. Several speakers sugge; that the issues were not cle® encugh stated in the amendmentH was lost by a large majority on| oices, and the motion was '"fl carried, with only one or two difefl tient voices. v