AN INDISCREET OFFICER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7021, 8 January 1910, Page 4

AN INDISCREET OFFICER

Oaptain Knyvett, of Auckland, is an enthusiastic officer who has done good service to Now Zealand volunteering. Ho has , a fine record of service under arms ’in South Africa. His zeal stomped him as a man whoso co-opera-tion in military matters would ho a valuable asset to the Defence Department, and bis dismissal from the Forces can in this respect only bo re. garded as a distinct misfortune. Yet' we think it is impossible to come to ■any other conclusion than that his recent conduct was such as to make it imperative that his connection with the department should cease—and at onoe. There can be no vicarious atonement for his offending. Discipline is essential; individuals are never indispensable. Oaptain Knyvett came into personal prominence a few weeks ago through a visit paid by his company of volunteers , to Wellington,, There is no necessity to revive the facts of that incident beyond recalling that it brought him into collision with the Chief of the General Staff. Otherwise the affair is immaterial. There ■was , an inquiry, and subsequently Captain Kpyvett thought it consistent with his position as an officer to writ© to the 'Minister for Defence a letter in -which he made certain charges against Colonel Eobin in language that gave the communication the appearance of a breach of discipline. A court-martial was appointed to consider whether it really w r as a breach.

Xho result of its finding is Captain Knyvett's dismissal, and wo arc bound to say that any otiior result would have been a travesty on common-sense and reduced tlio regulations which govern the conduct of volunteer offioora to absurdity. Ono of tho Auckland officers who has taken up cudgels on behalf of Captain Knyvett finds room for the exercise of ingenuity in the assumed discrepancy between the finding of tho Court and its statement that Captain Knyvett was “ justified in sending tho letter.” There is no need for hairsplitting about this business. Captain Knyvett was not debarred from “sending” this or any other letter to the Minister, but ho most certainly was excluded from tho uso of tho language he employed. It was in tho highest degree offensive. Tho truth or otherwise of what ho said is not to the point. The kernel of tho matter is that if officers of tho volunteer forces were permitted to write letters to tho Minister about their superiors in rank, couched in such terms, discipline would bo out of tho question. Chaos only could follow. In no department of private life would practices of tho kind bo tolerated. Captain Knyvott’s letter was not a complaint addressed to tho Minister. It was a communication wdiich made any future relations between tho subordinate and commanding officer absolutely impossible. Captain Knyvett’s indiscretion made bis removal inevitable.