The Home Guard
T is good news that the Home Guard is being enrolled for the "definite purpose of forming a line of defence against a potential enemy" and "ensuring the continum™nce of communal activities" in the event of national disaster. Soundly and broadly based like that it provides the opportunity that most men over forty-five are looking for: and there is at least a hint in the statement made in this issue by the Minister of National Service that it may provide wider opportunities still. Nothing must be read into his statement that he does not plainly say, but many people will hope that his reference to those who have conscientious scruples about "active military campaigning" means that such persons will be given an opportunity to link up with the Emergency Precautions organisation. Those people, however, make a very small proportion of the Dominion’s man-power. The overwhelming majority accept war when it comes as they accept the necessity of fighting against fire and flood when they come, and the Home Guard opens the ranks to everybody. It makes universal service a reality and not merely a phrase; gives us not merely a citizens’ defence force but a defence force of all citizens; and-a far more important fact than some of us realisemakes it possible for old men to cheer on young men with reasonably clear consciences. The "feeling of frustration" to which the Minister refers has been in part at least a feeling of shame. What worries so many of us who are over forty-five is not only that we are "doing so little." It is also that we are saying so much. But all that embarrassment now ends. The Home Guard makes the whole nation one in service and sacrifice. It is also supremely important, as the Minister emphasised in a public statement last week, that it throws us all into one-common camp. We are no longer Catholics or Protestants, Pagans or Jews; employers or employees; "old school" or no school. We are New Zealanders defending our hearths and homes and preparing for a new order when the storm passes,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 68, 11 October 1940, Page 4
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352The Home Guard New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 68, 11 October 1940, Page 4
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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