The Press. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1901. THE PREMIER AND THE WAR OFFICE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11153, 20 December 1901, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1901. THE PREMIER AND THE WAR OFFICE.

Wβ do pot at all approve tie -way in which the Premier has bandied the caee of Trooper Tasker. The crime of which thia young man was convicted-—that of sleeping on fcjs port—i>, next to desertion and treachery, the most serious of which a soldier can be guilty in time o| war. For this the usual punishment is sentence of death, but Tasker wae let off with three years' penal servitude. There were undoubtedly extenuating circumstances in his case, but ire do not know that had his sentence been insisted upon there would .have been any just grounds for complaint. However, Mr E. 6. Jelliooe, the Wellington solicitor, who happened to be in England, and l feeling sympathy with the young man, petitioned 1 the King on his beJialf, and his Majesty, having referred the matter to the War Office, was pleased to approve the proposal of the Commander-in-chief to release Trooper Tasker on the 11th January next. This was an exercise of the Koyal clemency, for which Tasker, at any rate, had every reason to feel profoundly grateful. There ia no question that it was & very special concession made on account of hie being a New Zealander, and that no English soldier, guilty of the same offence under the same extenuating circumstances, would have been let oft* half tto lightly. There was certainly no occasion for any further interference on behalf of the Government of, New Zealand. Bat Mr Sodden apparently waa jealous of the fact that the remission had been obtained through the efforts of a private individual, and he 'began to worry the War Office to release Tasker at once. Naturally, the War Office were indisposed to more after the matter had been settled by the intervention of the King, and the-sentence Bad already been xeduoed to an almost nominal term. Finding the War Office took thia view, Mr Seddon resorted*to hie usual policy of bounce and bluster. In a speech

of unparalleled bad taste, which he delivered

to the returned troopers on' Saturday, he first showed where the shoe pinched by referring in » somewhat alighting way to the efforts of Mr JeUicoe, remarking that it was quite powible "that if the matter

" had been, left to the Government, through "his Excellency the Governor, the repre- " sentations they made would have ibad an " immediate effect. , ' He then -went on to say that th« Government had aefced that there should be reconsideration, of the matter by the. War Office, and also an enquiry into the treafcmenb of Tasker; «r the voyage between the Cape and London, but the War Office seemed; to think it oat of place to'reconsider the matter. Aβ reported'by the Ministerial journal in Wellington, he then continued in the following bumptious strain:-— "It would be just ft* mrell for the War Office to dearly understand, now that the colony ie playing a most important part, and will in the future have to play a most important part in South Africa, that they must not snub the colonies. (Applause.) When my Agent-General cabled to mc a couple of days ago, saying that they ware uot inclined to listen to mm, I thought it is just about time that that same War Office—(which has, in my opinion, been the j cause of forcing away from itself that ey-m- ---) pathy nod support which it should have toI know! its position. I had J hoped—and I still hope—that with General (Lord Roberts at its head, the War Office would have been brought into closer touch with, the people, and would recognise that it it is to be strong, and have -the confidence of the people of our great Empire, it must be in sympathy with and touch \ with the people. , ' 'All this is fustian of a very vulgar type. Wβ pass by the reference to "my Agent-General" beyond remarking that hitherto that officer has been . re. garded as ■ the servant of the colony of New Zealand, and that io assuming cole proprietorship of Mr Beeves, ♦'the autocrat" is evidently "getting on." The insufferable bumptiousness of the speech as a whole will, we feel sure, disgust every patriotdo New Zealander. We gave Mr Seddon unreeervedly every credit for his promptitude in offering the Eighth Contingent, and no journal haa supported him more cordially in his Imperialistic policy throughout, ever since the war began than 'The Press' haa done. Wβ can, therefore, afford to tell him plainly what we think of hie conduct on this particular occasion. Wβ regard it as a very vulgar pieoe of bounce. Mr Seddon deliberately eet to work to exploit Trooper Taeker for his own poßtieal

glorification, using the despatch of the Eighth Contingeait—quite successfully, as it proved—as a lever to force the War Office into doing what he t fcnows very weU it ought never to have been a*ked to do. The King of England had Intervened, and Trooper Taster w*3 to have been released oo January 11th. Considering all the ebv etances of the case, this was treating him with unparalleled leniency. But though

Kind Edward had intervened, "King Richard" had not had a finger in the pie, and hence all this sound and fury which would hare been treated by the British

i Government with the contempt it deserved } but for the despatch of the Eighth ContihI gent, and a desire to give not ti» slightest I pretext for dissatisfaction on tba part of the colony, which, do doubt they realise has : hitherto endeavoured to do its duty by the i Empire. Wβ take kave to point out, bow- : ever, the* it is th* people of New'Ze*--5 fond, not the Premier, who are wally <&• ! epatching the Contingent, and that the Con- [ tingent could not be sent Were there not ; patriotic New Zeal*nde» ready to risk their lives upon the field. And we venture to say that the people of New Zealand will be thoroughly disgusted a.t the pure patrioti«n of the offer being sullied by tb» wreUshed attempt of th* Pranier to ecarew political oipitel cut of & FDrtben»or» f w« f«d

sure that the men who are -volunteering for the front will ropel the idea that New Zeftlanders ought to be allowed to sleep *t their poets with comparative impunity. This was actually the vw bad down by Mr Seddon in his Wellington speech. "Colonial troops," he said, "did not exactly "understand the rigour and discipline of " the British forces. In hia ©prolan, if there " had been less discipline, and the colonial " troops had been given a freer hand, there "would have been a much better tale to"day. He thought that in the case of " Tasker, a lad who dfeedred to do his duty "and waa fired with ambition, a week's "imprisonment would have been sufficient;

"end they might be sure that if he were " given a chance again «a a soldier, Iμ would " never fall asleep on duty.'* If a man falls asleep on his post, in the time of war, he endangers tfce life of every man that is with him, and w* are quite sore that no New Zealand volunteer will agree with Mr Seddon that a week's imprisonment is an adequate punriahment for such a crime. Our men are prepared to undergo not only the hardships of the battlefield, but the discipline which has been found necessary ait all times to keep a fighting force from, being surprised and oat off by a night attack- The prompt offer of the Eighth Contingent was the act of a patriot and a statesman; the rebuke to the pro-Boer politicians at Home was an inspiration of genius j the Wellington speech with aH its offensive vulgarity was hardly up to the level of a, third-rat* professional politician.