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As the partial mobilization of January was followed by the calling-up of married men in a rapid series of ballots, so were these measures thrown successively into effect in order to stabilize and safeguard the industrial side of the war effort against serious losses of man-power and the consequential economic damage which would otherwise undoubtedly have arisen. The Relation between Armed Forces Appeal Boards and Industrial Mobilization.—Considering, on the one hand, the nature of the activities of Man-power Officers in redistributing the labour force, and, on the other hand, the functions of Appeal Boards in determining who shall be withdrawn fro .i industry and who shall remain, it is clear that a unified policy has been most necessary. To a great extent this is at present secured through the operations of Man-power Utilization Committees connected with the principal industries, which are presided over by Man-power Officers, and which make recommendations to Appeal Boards in connection, with their respective industries. A further example of unified action has been in connection with the procedure for releasing men from camp for work in seasonal industries, the initiative having been taken by Man-power Officers to the extent found necessary, though actually the recommendations to the Army to effect release were until very recently made by Appeal Boards. The National Service of Aliens. —The problem of the utilization of aliens in the war effort had been under consideration for a long time before the coming of industrial mobilization, though the many difficulties involved in their utilization in the forces had prevented a satisfactory solution. In the meantime their privileged position in the community, as compared with British subjects, was becoming more and more conspicuous. With the development of the new machinery for providing compulsory war service in essential work, the opportunity was taken of registering all aliens in the same classes as applied to British subjects (including the military ages in the case of male aliens) and ensuring that their occupations were in conformity with the national interest. For further information regarding the various measures of industrial man-power control, reference should be made to the accompanying report of the Industrial Man-power Division. 14. THE INTRODUCTION OF COMPULSORY CIVIL DEFENCE SERVICE It was mentioned earlier that at no time up to the close of the earlier phase in December, 1941, was the personnel of the Emergency Precautions Services considered sufficient in the main centres and secondary towns to deal even with the types of risk which were until then considered to exist. With the southward advance of Japanese forces in the Pacific, there was a sudden alteration in the nature of the risks to be provided against. Whereas large-scale bombing from the air had previously been thought unlikely, it was now considered a possibility, and provision had to be made rapidly to meet this and other new hazards. A continuous fire-watching service in the main centres, calling for extensive increases of personnel, was now considered a vital necessity. This situation naturally threw a spotlight 011 the question of providing adequate supplies of man-power, and providing it quickly. Considering that the work performed by the E.P.S. (along with other branches of the Emergency Reserve Corps) was for the safety of the community as a whole, and that there was no prospect of meeting the need for personnel by any voluntary means, it was felt that the principle of universal service should be invoked in exactly the same way as it had been to deal with a shortage of man-power for the armed forces themselves. The benefit was for the protection of all, and any hardship and inconvenience involved in securing it should be spread equally among all. Compulsory enrolment in the Emergency Reserve Corps of all male British subjects aged eighteen to sixty-five who were not already serving in the armed forces or the Home Guard was therefore directed by the Minister of National Service in the Emergency Reserve Corps Enrolment Order, signed on 22nd January, 1942. The enrolment procedure was very simple. An enrolment form was made available at all postoffices, and when filled in was forwarded to the local E.P.S. Headquarters. This was followed by acknowledgment, interview, selection, and posting to a unit. The introduction of compulsion brought a tremendous influx of personnel into the various sections of the Corps, and this personnel became subject to conditions of service which were gazetted shortly afterwards. Among other things, this enabled existing personnel to be redistributed as between units so as to clear up anomalies and secure the best distribution of the available personnel. The use which has been made of this personnel in the organization of civil defence measures is described in section 18 below. 15. THE INTRODUCTION OF COMPULSORY HOME GUARD SERVICE Until the time when compulsion was applied in order to build up the personnel of the Emergency Reserve Corps, the Home Guard had been relatively much better supplied with man-power. The changed war situation, however, affected the role of the Home Guard to no less an extent than it affected other phases of the war effort. The risk of invasion had now rendered its function a matter of great importance, and the needs of the Emergency Reserve Corps had no sooner been filled by compulsory methods than a controversy broke out as to whether some of the new personnel should not have been made available to the Home Guard instead. With the progressive balloting and withdrawal to the Army of married men, the personnel of the Guard was suffering continual losses, and more losses were in prospect. At the same time recruitment to make good these losses was no longer easy owing to the whole pool of available man-power having been conscripted for the Emergency Reserve Corps. As a further consideration, new and substantial demands were being placed on the Guard as a part of the general scheme of building up the defensive organization of the Dominion. It thus became apparent that, of the two branches of the war organization, the requirements of the Home Guard for personnel must now take priority, with the result that a proportion of the newly available man-power would have to be transferred from the civil defence organizations to the Home Guard. Provision to this effect was therefore made through an amendment to the National Service

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