Evening star., 1942-06-07
Mi|ehanl Plans
To Check Civil
Defense Funds
Will Pick Inspectors
To Watch Equipment
Of Warden Posts

vi VOIOCu TOStS
Taking the first step toward closer
supervision of warden posts, includ-
ing their personnel and equipment,
William j. Mileham, the new chief
air raid warden, plans to establish
special inspection service with
inspectors promoted from the war;
den ranks, it was learned yesterday.
The proposed service is in line,
with Mr.. Mileham's statement last
week that prompt action would be
taken to supervise the spending of
funds raised by civilian defense
committee solicitation.
Mr.. Mileham said he understood
his predecessor, Battalion Chief
Clement Murphy, had appointed a
half dozen inspectors from the
ranks of retired Army officers, but
that most of them had dropped the
work.
Checks Whole Organization.
There is also an inspector gen.
eral for the Metropolitan Area, Brig.
Gen. Charles D. Roberts, whoSis at
tached to civilian defense headquar-
ters. Gen. Roberts told The Star
last week that his assistants had
been trying to get as far down the
line of organization as possible. 1t
was understood that the work of his
group has to do with the overall
organization, rather than just the
warden service.
Gen. Roberts said, however, that
his assistants had found each area
"a law unto itself" with "a certain
amount of disagreement" as to what
to put into warden posts and what
equipment is available.
A similar conclusion was arrived
at as result of survey of num-
ber of areas made by The Star.
Fund raising and equipment of war
den posts with the funds raised has
been regarded heretofore by the local
OCD as a "neighborhood affair"
but Mr. Mileham said last week he
believed supervision was essential to
prevent waste of funds and that It
was a function of local civilian de-
fense officials to tell the area COM
mittees what type of expenditures,
outside of operating expenses, should
be made.
Lack of Uniformity.
His own experience as a deputy
warden, he said, had made the lack
of uniformity between areas and
even between sector posts apparent.
He indicated that while he did
not blame areas in poorer sections
for not being able to raise funds
for equipment, he did want to know
which areas these were. He also
indicated that his own goal was
equalizing the distribution of equip
ment so that the city would have
overall protection.
While he has not yet hit on the
method by which this could be ac-
complished. the material he gets
from his inspectors, he said, would
give him the information to show
whether such procedure as a CITY,
wide campaign for funds would be
necessary.
The men to be selected for the
inspection service will be deputy
Wardens and their assistants who
have shown their ability by the ef-
flcient organization of their own
areas. He said he already had
fairly good idea which areas were
well-organized.
Such system of promoting from
the deputy ranks, which would mean
step-ups all the way down the line,
he said, might be good for the NOR
ale of members of the warden serv-
ice.
Method of Inspections.
The inspectors, accompanied by
the deputy wardens of each area,
will visit the area headquarters, a
number of zone posts and about a
dozen sector posts on the theory that
if a dozen are well-organized the
rest are liable to be also and vice
versa.
The inspection will begin with
the personnel of the posts, how we'll
manned they are, how many hours
a day the post is covered, whether
a contact could be established
whenever a telephone call was put
in to the post.
The second thing the inspectors
will look for is the extent of equip
ment. Mr.. Mileham made 1t clear
he does not mean f1re-ighting equip
ment since national OCD an
nounced last week that, because of
critical shortages, its handbooks
were being revised to eliminate items
that might cause reduction in es-
sential stocks through widespread
buying.
Mr.. Mileham said he expected to
confer with Defense Co-ordinator
John Russell Young on setting some
standard of equipment for warden
posts as soon as the Commissioner
returns to the city.