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Description

Memo regarding the relationship between the Emergency Precautions Service and the Women's War Service Auxiliary

Identification

Object type
Correspondence
Archive
C. E. Warburton Papers
Date
circa 1942
Digitisation ID
2009Pa_WARBURTON-S1-F3_2788a
Format
Paper

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Taxonomy

Tags
women's war service auxiliary,
world war two,
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Related items

New Zealand Post Office telegram
Correspondence: Womens War Service Auxiliary to the Town Clerk, Palmerston North
Women's War Service Auxiliary Memorandum No. 54
Women's War Service Auxiliary Memorandum No. 69
Women's War Service Auxiliary Memorandum No. 72
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Memorandum: Women's Royal Naval Service (New Zealand) conditions of service Page 4

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”.

  • 2 -
  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.”

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.