CAPTAIN KNYVETT'S SUSPENSION.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13597, 4 December 1909, Page 11

CAPTAIN KNYVETT'S SUSPENSION.

CHARGES AGAINST COLONEL ROBIN. (SPECIAL TO "THE PRESS.") AUCKLAND, December 3. The actual cause of Captain Knvrett's suspension is said to be a letter which he sent to the Defence Minister. This, letter refers to tho efforts made by the officers of the Petone N avals and Captain Knyvett's own company to cover up and prevent any possibility of a ecandal leaking out to the public of the alleged "want of tact and the interference of the Chief of the Gei.eral Staff, Colonel Robin." The letter goes on to refer to the astonishment of the officers on the Monday following, when an article appeared in the •'Dominion, -, stating that the No. 1 Company, by coming to Wellington, had committed a grave breach of discipline, and burlesqued the whole volunteering force throughout the Dominion. Captain Knyvett's letter .say.-, that he is prepared to submit a-n affidavit from three officers who were present at a certain interview in the

"Dominion" office, as his authority for saying that the matter was supplied by Colonel Robin. The letter continues: "The result of th"s article in tho 'Dominion' has been that the volunteer movement, and mv corps in particular (which is the largest without question in the whole of New Zealand), have been belittled and burlesqued to an astounding extent. Article after article has appeared in the Wellington papers, and. interview after interview has been accorded by tho Chief of the General Staff, and the statements made by him in the interviews I am prepared to prove are entirely wrong. In addition, it seems to mc that the Chief of the General Staff has personally gone out of his way to belittle, discourage, and damp the enthusiasm of the whole volunteering movement. Since these articles have appeared, I have been approached by many officers throughout tha whole of the North Island, who have had similar experiences of the unwarranted Interference and unexampled officialism of Colonel Robin. Not only have volunteers themselves been subject to his interference, but many prominent officers have told mo (which I am prepared to prove at an enquiry) that he has many times had private interviews with persons, from privates to colonels, to the undoubted disadvantage of the discipline of the forces throughout the Dominion. Further, in tho duties laid down for the Defence Council, I find the duties for the Chief of the General Staff are: Field organisation, military operations, staff duties, military training, military education, military intelligence, mobilisation and war regulations. No mention of any kind is made in this to the duties of discipline. If any member of the Defence Council had any complaint to make about tho action of myself and the corps it was Colonel Tuson, A.A.G. I respectfully submit that at no time have my officers or myself committed the smallest breach of the regulations. I have been under provocation owing to tihe many articles which have appeared in the 'Dominion' from the pen of Colonel Robin, but I have withheld writing to the Press, well knowing I should obtain from you justice. I have documents in my possession which, if published, would have created a scandal in volunteering throughout the whole Dominion. I most respectfully ask for an official enquiry into the conduct of the head of the Defence Department, Colonel Robin, an officer who is a private channel of communication "jvith an Opposition paper (the ' Dominion ') in Wellington, and gives articles and information of a nature calculated to be contrary to tlifc best traditions and interests of the Service."