VOLUNTEER DEADLOCKS.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 49, 26 August 1905, Page 5

VOLUNTEER DEADLOCKS.

THE AUCKLAND NAVALS TROUBLE. SOME CORRESPONDENCE. Among present visitors to Wellington is Captain C. H. Clemens, formerly officer commamlmg the Auckland Nayals, the oldest corps in the colony. It has already been stated that Captain. Clemens and his 'two lieutenants were recently called on by tho Defence Department to resign under threat of being gazetted out, and that they did •resign, it also appears from Auckland reports clut the company has sided with its Officers,, and has not since paraded for flrill, In viow of disaffection and roaignations among volunteers in other f-aitd than Auckland, public attention is <it last being aroused to the way tho Defence D:-partment administers its duties, An Evening Post reporter sought "an interview with Captain Clemens at hk hotel. RESIGNATION OF OFFICERS. There were two charges laid in connection witli which the officers of the Auckland N. avals were 'thus treated by ths authorities. We are informed that both charges were laid in October, 19J4 ; ■that the case was heard before a Court of Enquiry of the Department in November, 1904; the decision was not . given till May, 1905, and was to the effect -stated. As these charges and the manner of the Court's proceedings may ■be raised again in another manner, the present article is not going to- touch upon them at all. It is only going to quote -from correspondence handed to ths ■r?porie? by Captain Clemens, m showing the circumstances existing for two or three years prior io the charges, and tho then relations between Captain Clemens , and the Department. If the Department finds anything to T&p\y to in the oorrsspondence, or anything to add, the Evening Post will be .glad to give reasonable facilities for publication. IS THERE AN UNDERLYING MOTIVE! In a letter dated the 10th July last, and addressed to the Minister for De- - fence, replying to the decision of the 2ourt of Eucjuiry, Captain Clemens isked alternatively for (a) reconeidera- • bion of the Court's decision, or (b) an enquiry by "an impartial non-military Board," or (c) a trial before a Court of competent jurisdiction (auch as the Magistrate's Court, the second charge being a .penal one). This letter is. here .mentioned, not for the purpose of following it into all the details of .the charges, but in order to reproduce, what Captain Clemens evidently cgnsidejia the keynote of motive- : — " I know, the members of my company know, the Auckland volunteers k&ow, the general "public know, and your Departmental officers in Auckland know, that the charges preferred against me were not preferred to conserve the interest of volunteering, but to punish me because I would not fawn, but spoke .the truth about the Department, oven if offence was given. If you ■would have prepared -a list showing the names of those officers who have during the past three years resigned their commission, tired, 6ick, and > weary with the gross incapacity of the Defence Department, yon would be astounded. True, pressure of bu- • siness is often given an official excuse, an excuse which those in the know know the value of." THE EARLIER CRITICISMS. Thus Captain {Siemens clearly tells the -Minister that ho was punished because he had spoken i,ie truth about the De.partment- Whit ds is that he had spoken? The following letter from Captain, Clemens tc the officer commanding the Auckland district, dated th© HUi July, 1902, states that in May, 1902, Captain Clemens had applied for an enquiry into causes of various Departmental delays. These delays were referred to in earlier correspondence, ■which we pass by, as ,th© .latter of the 11th July sums it up. The essential points of tbi3 letter, in which the appl> cation for enquiry was renewed, are as follows : — "Jn May, I forwarded to you a letter in which I stated that annoyance was caused to Volunteer officers .... owing to the long and continued neglect of ' the Defence Department to promptly pay money as it became due to the Volunteer Force. In accordance with the New Zealand Volunteer regulations I asked you to transmit my letter 'through the proper channel to the Defence Jlinister, and made application for an enquiry to be held with a. view to discaver and remove the cause of the delays. On 6th June I sent another letter in. furtherance of my request, and qacted a case for the information. To these letters I have not received a reply. VEXATIOUS DELAYS. . "A communication received by me from Mr. - Hadfield, of New Plymouth (complaining that an amount was etill unpaid, although -owing to him since the Royal visit in June, 1901), was forwarded to you on 19th June. >• 'In January and February of this year members of the various volunteer companies competed in rifle matches at meetings held at Waihi and Avondale. Money prizes- were to be given by the Government. Up to the present time the money, understood as being definitely promised, has not been paid, .and intense dissatisfaction is the result. '• "On 16th June "my attention was drawn to the fact that (a) it was insubordinate to state that the 'continual neglect of the Defence Department to pnttnptly pa) amounts due to volunteer companies is very annoying,' and on 30th June I am reprimanded, and informed tlmt it is improper to state that (b) 'the dela> is unsatisfactory, and I shall be obliged to appeal to the Defence Minister unless the matter is quickly adjusted.' "The quotation marked 'a 1 occurred in a, letter asking that the gunner; pounds, etc., due to my corps for the year ending 28th February, lyO2, might be paid before 30th May, and the quotation marked *b' is taken from a letter dated 6th Juno, 1902, complaining that after' nearly leight mouths an account due* to two of my men as compensation for injuries received at station practice in October, 1901, was still unsettled. (Here follows a denial of insubordinate intent.) " NUMEROUS PARTICULARS QV DELAY PROMISED. "I realise and deplore the fact that throughout the whole of New Zealand the volunteer force is severely suffering owinK to the treatment meted out by the Defence Department, which may be the result of system, but which to an ordinary commercial man appears to be unbusinesslike and harassing in the extrems. The Commissioned Office™' administrative duties arc made hatdtr and more irksome, and the spirit and heart is being squeezed out of the rank and file. It is no^pleaturc for me to lodge complaints, but I feel I should be wanting in my duty both to the Dtfence Department and to those who, like myself, comprise the unpaid force, if I did not in clear and unmistakable language awure the Hon. the Acting-Defence Minister , that throughout New Zealand tho feeling of irritation is growing stionger and stronger, and that the volunteer movement is being stowlv hu* surely

killed, With but little' difficulty the Minister could be furnished with the particulars of from 150 to 200 cases where apparently there have been vexatious and needless delays in the payment of accounts, the issue of badges, etc., etc. "If the Hon. the Acting-Defence Minister decides that an enquiry is unnecessary I would respectfully ask that he will consider the advisability of having such arrangements made as would enable the officers commanding districts to j forward to the officers commanding companies, money, badges, and certificates immediately they are satisfied that such bave become due." OFFICERS PERSONALLY HAVE TO JAY CLAIMS. In a. further letter to ths officer «omjnanding the Auckland district, dated the 16th July, 1902, Captain Clemens acknowledges receipt by him -(since he cent, his lector of ths 11th July) of the Department's -reply to earlier correspondence. In this, letter of tho 16th July, Captain Clemens, after again reprobating insubordinate intent, states :—: — "The General Officer Commanding desires me to afate specified grounds for ■complaint contained in any letter' asking for an enquiry. I -.peepectfully submit that apparently there has been needless delay in connection with the following mattws : — (1) Non-payment of prize money won at Rifle Association .meetings at Waihi and Avondale in January and February latt. (2) Payment -of gunnery pounds to the companies in the Auckland garrison; "the whole amount -claimed as be-ing due to my own corps is not paid even yet. (3) Settlement of compensation due .to any men for injuries received the 26th October, 1901. (4) Non-pay-an-snt of boot allowance due 't-o my corps. '(5) Non-payment of Dr. Parkes's account for attending to men injured October last, this being an account for which I am person- | ally responsible. (6) Money dn'e for [ Royal Review in Christohurch, due I June, 1901, not paid till February, 1902. (7) D^l-ay in paying capitation grants to volunteer companies. It is no -nnusnal occurrence for the| officer to personally advance money which has become due -fco volunteers weeks before the amount i 3 placed to credit of the corps. . . . An examination of tho correspondence relating to the men injured last October will chow that I was personally some £14 out of .pocket for a i considerable tjnio," NO ENQUIRY GRANTED. We return *o the letter addressed to the Defence iMinister on the 10th J,uly last, an. excerpt from which is printed above, and quote again from it that part i which refers to the enquiry vainly asked for by Captain Clemens in 1902 : " I do not heeita/te to say that New Zealand is now le^a able to resist invasion than she ■was fiv© years ago, that the morale of the permanent -and volunteer force has depreciated and is rapidly depreciating, and that 50 per cent, of the money wrung from the jeople of New Zealand is absolutely wasted. The position of today is worse than when in July, 1902, owing to the truly deplorable position into which the Defence Department had drifted, combined with the conviction •that there waa apparently a deliberate intention to extinguish the volunteer force by sheer neglect and ill-treatment, and also having the knowledge that the public money waa being squandered, the people trilled with, the colony exposed to the gravest dangers, and the Defence Minister N apparently hoodwinked, I, in an official and proper manner, made [ charges againsi tha Defence Department and asked that an enquiry might be held. Not having been granted the courtesy of a reply, I do not know what was done with my letter, and can only surmise that there was immediately found j an excuse for that general conclusion — so dear to the official mmd — that tho best thing to do was to do nothing." The writer adds that, having crossed the Rubicon, 'he was quickly made to feel the cost of barking too close at the Defence Department's heels. Captain Clemens also states that though the Defence Minister granted him permission for an interview, that permission "proved utterly valueless, owing to my finding it impossible to get a date fixed for the interview to take place, even "though I offered to come to (Wellington for t-he purpose." One of two conclusions is- inevitable^ either these letters are 1 incorrect, or the Department ignored grave chaTg-es of needless delay." \And. it is significant that tho whole colony is ringing -with similar charges.