TROOPS' CONVOY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1914, Page 6

TROOPS' CONVOY

CAUSE OF A CHANGE IN PLANS MR. MASSEY AND IMPERIAL AUTHORITIES THREATENED RESIGNATION. HAS THE DESIRED EFFECT. (IT IBLBOEiPn—SPEOIAL TO IHB POST.) DUNEDIN, This Day. After pointing out the absurdity ©£ the Sydney Sun's allegation that the Now Zealand Government was virtually responsible for the escape of the German, cruisers Schamhorst and Gneiseuau from the Western Pacific, the Star observes : " Mr. Maesey's action in enforcing adequate naval protection, for tho New Zealand Expeditionary Force now in Egypt compensates for many minor administra* tive blunders and proves him to be a man of unflinching spirit and with a strength of character that wins. Whea the Auckland troopships were recalled, Irom sea when 150 miles out, and the departure of tho force was deferred in* definitely, people began to talk openly of bluuderiug and Reform weakness, ihe Prime Minister ' bowed his head to the storm' and remained loyal to the Imperial edict as to complete silence as regards the movements of troops and warships. What was the cause ot the real delay' It is only fair, and it can do no harm to the Imperial cause, to say that the delay was duo to the lack of adequate escort. In the midßt o£ all the bitter complaints and the exaggerated talk of demoralisation of the troops in Wellington, the' Prime Minister held to his demand for an efficient escort. The Imperial authorities apparently considered that warships of the P class could provide adequate protection to the ten troopships during the voyage to Australia. Mr Massoy firmly, and we think rightly, protested. His protest beoame a point-blank refusal to sanction the departure of the Expeditionary Force with only the protection of tho P class of warships, one of which had been battered at Zanzibar by the Konigsberg. The impasse became a sort oB tug-of«war of administrative stubbornness, and finally the Prime Minister informed tho Imperial authorities that he would not accept the administrative responsibility of sending some 8000 men to sea undef the protection of tho Psyche, Pyramus, and Philomel, and that if these were to bo the escort the Government would resign on the instant. " Several days elapsed before any definite action was announced by the Imperial authorities, but a week later Parliament unexpectedly adjourned fot? an afternoon to enable members to go down to the crowded harbour and see the memorable arrival of a formidable, escort— the flagship of the British China Squadron and another grey monster-fly-ing the flag of Japan, the Rising Sun. It was entirely due to Mr. Massey's strength of character that the citizens of Wellington were enabled to secure a broader and, let it be hoped, a permanent understanding of the true Japanese spirit — th^ Japanese pride in their allegiance with the British and their great I faith in the value of a ' scrap of paper.' "'