HOME GUARD AT OHAI

Southland Times, Issue 24872, 12 October 1942, Page 2

HOME GUARD AT OHAI

Sir, —In reply to a report appearing in your publication of Ottober 8, under the heading, “Miners Want to Parade, I wish to take exception to some misleading and exaggerated .statements. The statement that miners are home from their work at 3.15 p.m. is absolutely incorrect and seems intended to create a false impression. It is fairly obvious that this statement was not made by any miner. Without going into details on the pros and cons of the subject, I would venture to assert that if a ballot was taken among all men eligible for Home Guard parades whether the parades be continued or not, the result would be overwhelmingly in favour of discontinuance. It is not my intention to discredit the efforts made by enthusiastic and efficient men, many of them old soldiers, to establish a Home Guard to assist to repel any invader, but the indifference of the Government since the inception of the Guard in providing arms and adequate training facilities leads one to believe that the whole scheme has been designed to create a feeling of high morale rather than a fighting force. A miner after working eleven days a fortnight in an industry that calls for more physical exertion than any other, hardly relishes the idea of route marching and forming threes instead of learning to shoot and acquiring the knowledge of using modern arms and ammunition. I notice that the statements published were supposed to have been made by Ohai Home Guardsmen. What about Nightcaps? It has a population larger than Ohai, but there is not a Home Guard despite all efforts to establish one. Again, to prove my contention that a large percentage of present Home Guardsmen are of my opinion, last Sunday only 40, men turned out for parade out of a total of well over 100 after they had read in the Press the statement issued by the Hon. A. McLagan. OBSERVER. Ohai, October 8, 1942.