COLONEL FOX.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10314, 5 April 1894, Page 5

COLONEL FOX.

LETTERS TO THE GOVERNMENT. [Peb Pekss Association.]

WELLINGTON, April 4. Ministers to-day received from the Premier Colonel Pox's two letters, in which he suggested that he should be allowed to resign on certain conditions. In one' Colonel Fox expresses his desire to be released from his contract with the Government conditionally upon his being granted a sum of .£IOOO as reasonable compensation for the loss he has sustained in coming out here and the termination of his engagement. A farther condition is passages back to England for himself and faia military servant. la the event of these terms being accepted, a formal resignation is attached, and reasons why the conclusion of the engagement is desirable are given. The reasons are very numerous, but the chief are that the Premier, as Minister of Defence, controls the whole of the defences and the defence force, in consequence of which the force has deteriorated; that he has retained the ser> vices of useless officers and non-commis-sioned officers and of corps recommended to be disbanded, this presumably for political reasons, as the Premier knew that money was urgently needed for the chief ports 5 that the Premier has refused to allow him to take up the duties of commandant, and ho is therefore commandant only in name; that he required a staff officer and recommended the appointment of one, and bis recommendation was ignored; that the Premier sent his acting Tinder-Secretary for Defence to make extracts from his (Colonel Fox’s) letterbook behind his back; that the Premier laid the Volunteer report on the table of the House of Representatives in such a manner as to prejudice him and it; that - the Premier sent that report to various persons asking their opinion upon it, but only published that of Sir William Jervois, ; which differed in some respects from the report, and did not publish that of the Colonial Defence Committee, which was in favour of it; that he (Colonel Fox) was detained in Wellington for a month doing nothing, on the ground that he was to be consulted regarding an ammunition contract, which, however, had not yet been put before him; that the Premier asked his opinion as to the Martini-Henry rifle contract and then sent his memo, of advice to the contractors j that on the receipt of Sir William Jervois’s letter the Premier suspended the arrangements which he (Colonel Fox) had made for sending six big guns to England to be chase-hooped; that the defence plans were transferred to the Public Works Department against his recommendation; that without reference to him the Premier consulted a subordinate officer as to what stores, which he (Colonel Fox) said were required, should be dispensed with. Colonel Fox further stated that as it was apparent that his advice was either unsoughfor disregarded he was commandant only in name, and therefore the Government must approve of. his action in resigning. [from our own correspondent.]

The publication of Colonel Fox’s letter to the Premier, making a conditional tender of bia resignation and assigning reasons for his action, before Ministers had an opportunity of dealing with the matter in Cabinet, has excited general astonishment. Some of the Ministers whom I have seen are very much annoyed at this premature disclosure of such an important matter, and are uncertain where the blame lies, although they have their suspicions. Evidently there is a leakage of n moat serious kind in some confidential quarter.