HOME GUARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 14 October 1942, Page 4

HOME GUARD

CHANGES ANNOUNCED CLOSER LIAISON WITH ARMY TRAIN INC. AND KQI IT Ml. VI I AC I CITIES GOVERN MB.NT ACTS ON REPORT OF COMMITTEE Wellington. Tin Da "1 wj.-Ii to take llii., opportunity ol j ex pro.--sing my deep appreciation of the importance of ilu* Home Guard in the , defence organi.* ation of New Zealand.” , said the Minister of Defence ‘Mr F. Jon*. ). aniii n ■ that the rec omn • n dations of the Committee of Inquiry of the War Council tin* Home Guard ' had now been considered by the Gov- j eminent and had also been discussed i with Lieutenant-General Puttick. officers of Ins staff and the Director-Gen-eral of the Home Guard, Brigadier R. Young. Air J ones continued: "I am av. arc "f the excellent work that has been done t by the Home Guard all over the country’ and am familiar with the problems [ that confront them and of the condi- | tions under which they operate. The 1 main difficulties under which the Home ; Guard laboured are gradually disap- j pearing and, with a steady increase in ! the quantities of equipment available ( in New Zealand, the Home Guard can confidently look forward to a steady improvement in their position.” The report of the Committee of | Inquiry into the Home Guard organ- i i.-ation. comprising 15 closely-typed pages, with seven pages of appendices ; and the G.O.C.’s report and comments of 12 pages, as well as a comprehensive Ministerial statement on both was re- ! leased for publication to-day. The Minister, in his statement, says that the committee, consisting of the Hon. W. Perry AI.L.C. <chairman >. Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, Messrs L. G. Lowry and E. T. Tirikatene Al.P.'s, was set up following representations made in March last by the Leader of the Opposition ( Mr S. G. Holland > and meetings were held in the four main centres, where evidence was taken. Mr Jones paid a warm tribute to members of the committee for the painstaking and thorough manner in which they had conducted the inquiry, stating that the report was a most able and valuable one. The report, added the Minister, covered a wide field and emphasised th** fine spirit and keenness of the Home Guard. PRIORITY IN EQUIPMENT Dealing with the main features of the report the Minister states that, in deciding the role to be played by the Home Guard in the defence of the country, the committee proposed that those battalions in areas most immediately essential for defence should be given priority and equipment to the utmost extent possible. This policy had already been adopted and almost GO per cent, of the total battalions in the Home Guard had been given priority in the manner suggested. I he remainder had been issued with training requirements at least and, in many cases, considerably more. There had admittedly been a shortage of equipment in the early stages of the formation of the Home Guard but, since then, the arrival of very large shipments from overseas, augmented in the case of some items by local production had enabled a considerable improvement to be effected. Issues of equipment would continue as supplies became available. The supply of .303 ammunition was now very satisfactory but the issue of .300 American rifles to Home Guard units and the present shortage in that ammunition necessitated restrictions in the training issue The Minister said the position was being met, however, and shipments to arrive would rectify it. Increased production of cloth and the retention of uniforms which New Zealand had agreed to supply overseas as part of the Empire Supply Organisation had enabled an increased issue of uniforms to be made to the Home Guard. Large quantities were still required to provide a second uniform for the troops permanently mobilised as well as to complete the uniforming of the Home Guard and production had been speeded up to its maximum. To date 75.000 uniforms had been issued to the Guard and an issue of 3000 weekly would be made until a second suit of battle dress had been supplied to all members of the mobilised forces. Since the report was compiled the issue of boots to the Guard had increased from 59.000 pairs to 83.000. Stocks of grenades had now increased and they had been issued to complete the training scales and war reserve of the Guard. WIRELESS SETS The committee recommended that Guard units be permitted to manufacture their own wireless sets. This, however, required strict control as a variety of sets might imperil security and consequently the manufacture of sets by the Home Guard could only be undertaken after approval of specifications by Army Headquarters. Orders had been placed to provide for several hundred sets to be made available for Home Guard signal instructors which were being trained in Army schools. Enlistment of Maoris was also referred to by the committee and thd position had been met by the appointment of appropriate Maori committees and suitable liaison officers to act between these committees and those dealing with men for the Home Guard and E.P.S. organisation. PAY AND EXPENSES The committee recommended payment for attendance at parades but stated there was a divergence of opinion on this question. Guardsmen called out for 24 hours or more are paid 7s daily and rations and transport are provided. If the period of mobilisation is for seven days or longer, or when Guardsmen are attending instruction courses, the rates of pay and allowances are the same as for the Home Defence forces. The committee reported that there were strong requests that out-of-pocket expenses should be refunded to the men and the Minister stated it was intended to make arrangements under which parades of smaller units could be held and so reduce travelling expenditure. Men outside the prescribed limits w ould cary out consolidated training

as was done in the case of the Territorial force. ' In case of other expenditure a good | deal of this could be met from the : capitation allowance and other existing authorities. Now that units were better organised and had permanent staff, tiie difficulties had largely disappeared. A recommendation had been made that the capitation allowance of £1 per ani mini be paid on an annual basis and that it be increased to £2 per annum. It. had been decided, said the Minister, to pay on the annual basis, progress payments being made quarterly with adjustments in the final quarters. Provision had been made whereby, it an i increase in the amount of tiie allowance was required, then it would be authorised. Referring to the recommendation by the committee for an improvement in the administrative work and for simplified procedure, the Minister said an improvement was already apparent due to the appointment of additional officers and warrant officers and to tiie increased experience of all

concerned. Simplification ol procedure would be adopted where possible. ZONE COMMANDERS I he rommittee rorommended that the duties of District and Group Directors should be more clearly defined. It had been decided, said the Minister, that these appointments would no longer be continued. Instead, inside each army area there would be appointed a number of Zone Commanders with a training and operational staff. These Zone Commanders would command Territorial and Home Guard units within their zones and any possibility of divided control would thus be avoided and now there would be closer fusion of the Home Guard and the Territorial Arm>. which was not only desirable but essential. The majority of Zone Commanders would be appointed in a full-time rapacity and the remainder on a part-time basis in the meantime, but the position of these would be reviewed at a later date. TRANSPORT Transport was reported to be an urgent matter in the Ilon.e Guard but it had been found impossible with our present resources to provide tyres and petrol' wherever they were needed. However, whenever possible, transport was provided by the Army ‘and. on mobilisation, any necessary transport would be available from the Lines-of-Communication. the Home Guard AI.T. units and the Mobilised Reserve Motor Transport companies. Transport could not be made available to assembled units and sub-units from widely-separ-ated localities for training purposes but parades by smaller units and the consolidated training of men living at distances would greatly ease the position The Home Guard committee’s report and General Puttick’s comments w<* ,# tabled in the House to-day. —P.A.