More Info →Memorandum from National Service Department 21 January 1942

Transport Section

NATIONAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT,

P.O. BOX 165, TE ARO,

WELLINGTON C.2.

21st January, 1942.

MEMORANDUM for:

All Emergency Precautions Services,
Women’s War Service Auxiliary District Committees &
Sub-Centre Committees.

EMERGENCY PRECAUTIONS SERVICE – WOMEN’S WAR SERVICE
AUXILIARY.

1. On the 29th May, 1941, a circular memorandum was sent to all
   branches of the above organisations setting out the relationship
   between the Women’s War Service Auxiliary and the Emergency Precautions
   Services.

2. A number of enquiries are still being received concerning the
   position the W.W.S.A. occupies in relation to the allocation of women
   for E.P.S. work, and it is proposed now to set out in more detail the
   position as it stands to-day in relation to the two organisations.

3. In the first place it is necessary to bring before the notice of
   all E.P.S organisations a recent decision whereby Government has
   directed that the W.W.S.A. is to be the only official body for
   co-ordinating and directing all women’s war work in the Dominion, and
   it is the only official organisation recognised by Government for
   undertaking this work. It is, in fact, the channel of approach by
   women’s organisations to Government and the source from which Govern-
   ment’s decisions will be conveyed to those organisations. Consequently,
   all women’s organisations throughout the Dominion who are undertaking
   some form of war or emergency work will come under the direction of the
   Auxiliary in respect of any voluntary war work required of them by other
   bodies.

4. When requests of this nature for assistance are received by the
   Auxiliary, the Auxiliary will allocate the functions to the appropriate
   bodies in accordance with the policy already laid down by Government
   whereby old established and other appropriate organisations are to be
   utilised for whatever service is most suited to their particular
   training, and all bodies given a fair and equitable share in the
   allocation of duties.

5. There is no compulsion at the present time for any woman to join
   the W.W.S.A., neither is there any compulsion for any woman to join the
   E.P.S. Similarly, there is no compulsion for women to join other
   organisations undertaking some form of emergency or war work, but in
   view of the policy already laid down by Government charging the
   Auxiliary with the responsibility of co-ordinating and directing all
   women’s war work in the Dominion, other than E.P.S. which is carried
   out by local authorities, all such other organisations will require to
   have their members who wish to undertake war work sign an Auxiliary
   enrolment form in order to bring them under the provisions of the
   Emergency Reserve Corps Regulations.

6. The Auxiliary enrolment form has now been designed in a similar
   manner to the E.P.S. enrolment form, and members of the W.W.S.A. will
   in future sign a declaration of service in the same way as do members
   of other branches of the Emergency Reserve Corps. By members signing
   this declaration, they undertake to obey any appropriate instructions
   given them for voluntary war or emergency work by authorised persons,
   and at the same time they become eligible for insurance benefits in
   respect of any injuries received whilst performing authorised “service”.

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7. There is, however, nothing to prevent women being members of
   sewing guilds, Red Cross Society, St. John Ambulance Association, etc.,
   without being under any obligation to join the Auxiliary, but as
   members of such bodies these women will not be called upon to under-
   take any war or emergency service, nor will they be able to claim
   against the Government in respect of any injuries received whilst
   performing any of their duties.

8. Where individual women prefer to enrol directly in the E.P.S.
   they are quite at liberty to do so without joining the W.W.S.A. or
   any other organisation, and once enrolled with the E.P.S. they are
   entitled to the same insurance benefits as are members of the W.W.S.A.

9. Once a woman becomes a member of the E.P.S. either by directly
   enrolling therein or by being seconded by the W.W.S.A. for duty, she
   becomes for all E.P.S. work directly under the control of that Section
   of the E.P.S. to which she has been allocated. (This does not
   preclude a member of the W.W.S.A. seconded to the E.P.S. from also
   continuing her activities with the W.W.S.A.). It is therefore
   necessary that Emergency Precautions Services are supplied with
   relative particulars concerning all E.P.S. personnel, and to do this
   it is requested that when women are seconded from the W.W.S.A. for
   duty with the E.P.S., the respective W.W.S.A. Committees complete,
   from particulars supplied on the original W.W.S.A enrolment form,
   an E.P.S enrolment form (without further reference to the registrant
   and without the declaration being signed) and indicate on the E.P.S.
   form that the declaration of service has, in fact, been signed. The
   Auxiliary will at the same time mark their records “Seconded to E.P.S.”
   and endorse the E.P.S. enrolment form “seconded from W.W.S.A.”

10. Should women’s organisations or other groups of women desire to
    place themselves at the disposal of the Emergency Precautions Service
    as a body, particularly in the present state of emergency, it is
    desirable that each woman in the group complete a W.W.S.A. enrolment
    form and sign the declaration of service on the back of that form.
    The W.W.S.A. will then take the appropriate action to have them
    seconded to the E.P.S.

11. On the other hand, in respect of women who join the E.P.S and
    are not associated with the Auxiliary or any other organisation, they
    should sign the declaration of service on the E.P.S. form in the same
    way as do other members of the E.P.S., but in view of the fact that
    the Auxiliary is also undertaking to compile a register of woman-power
    of the Dominion, it is requested that Emergency Precautions Services
    notify the respective local branches of the Auxiliary of the names of women who have joined the E.P.S. direct.

12. It must be pointed out that it is of the utmost importance that
    all women’s organisations should arrange to have as many members as
    are required seconded for duty to the E.P.S. It is the earnest desire
    of Government that there should be complete co-ordination between all
    women‘s organisations, and Emergency Precautions Services should
    therefore arrange to draw as many women members as possible for E.P.S.
    work through the local branch of the Auxiliary. The Auxiliary should
    in turn allocate personnel to the E.P.S. form all appropriate organ-
    isations on a fair and equitable basis.

[-- Hunter?]
Director of National Service.