THE OAMARU VOLUNTEER INQUIRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14441, 6 February 1909, Page 9

THE OAMARU VOLUNTEER INQUIRY.

A rnuiiivSVoxiin.VT, whose letter we publish this morning, .suggests that the controversy in our columns with reference to the Oiiinaru Volunteer inquiry might fittingly be closed. It wo.ild he futile to suppose, however, that, (..veil Jf we were to refuse any further correspondence regarding it, then, wild bo an end of the incident. Aiiwdv it has been announced that, the atf-mion of Parliament is to be directed to the subject of tho inquiry; and plainly there is need for somo further probing of (he circumstances connected with the ease, That the correspondence ii> our columns has served a. useful purpose nnrst bo generally admitted. It has indisputably had the effect- of affording the public a large, amount of information, which might otherwise have been denied tu it, respecting the nature of tho complaint that was the subject of investigation and respecting the conduct of the inquiry by the Military Court., lint it. must also have had the effect cf creating a great deal of perplexity in ihe public mind with regard to the merits of I lie case and witii regard to the absolute justice of the conclusion at which the Court arrived. The gravamen of tho charge into the truth of which the Court was snuimcned to inquire was that personal payments were drawn for a full half-muster of the Oamani Ililles at the Baxter miiiumivi'es yf last year, although, as a matter of fact, there were only a few members of the company present—so few that they were attached to another company ami their oflicor.s were assigned stall duties,—and although the regulations cxpre-.s|y provide that there shall he at least a half-muster of the corps at an encampment, in order that any "f its member* may qualify for payment. In (h 0 n f (| lo regulations it may reasonably be contended that 11 ".V I'hiim is fraudulent, that is made for payments f or attendance at an oiiciimpment where the condition t.hat tlicro shall be at least a full half-master of a company before anj of its members are entitled lo receive payment at- all i.s not fulfilled. Necessarily, also, the Ration that officers of a compauv arc concerned in the presentation of a- claim for payment and in tlm acknowledgment, of the receipt of a payment, under such circumstances involves, a grave reflection upon their honour. The announcement that the Court of Inquiry had, after hearing evidence iu tho fiajnarj* formed

tlio opinion, and had so reported to the Minister of Defence, that the officers who vvero alleged to be implicated should bo honourably acquitted, clearly justified tho belief that, the charge into which the Couii was required to inquire had completely broken down and that there was no legitimate foundation for tlio suggestion that the regulations had been flagrantly vioi'tei', The assertions and the admissions which have been made in the course of the correspondence in our columns certainly indicate, however, that this belief, wherever entertained, must, be qualified ,to some extent. ]t has actually become common ground that the attendance of the Oamaru Pities at the encampment did not amount to a half-muster of the corps. Vet payment was drawn for a full half-muster. Someone in authority v. as Ciearly responsible, therefore, for tile presentation of a claim that could not. bo legally supported. Moreover, the fact, if it be a fact, that, as confidently .stated by one of our correspondents, a demand has been made by the Department for a refund of payments which were improperly drawn, may be fairly viewed as constituting an official acknowledgment of the occurm,e° of 'modalities at. the encampment. But it j s dillicult to reconcile the conclusion to which these considerations point with the judgment adopted by the Court, of Inquiry, amounting, as tlii.s did, to a virtual pronouncement that the allegation before it was baseless and frivolous. It. is not surprising, therefore, that those who feel that the Court failed to inquire a.s exhaustively into the facts of the case as it should liave done are stromdv determined to press for a review of the whole proceedings.

SOUTH AFJUCAX UNION. Tiik South African Convention, v/liieh boon occupied for *01)10 time past in discussing the union of Hie .South African colonies, has at length concluded its I;ibiHti'.-s. The movement towards closer union in .South Africa, has claimed attention as one of practical iind immediate interest only .since the publication of the statesmanlike memorandum on the mutual relations of the various South African colonies which wa.s drawn up by Lord Selborne in July, 1!'07, ill Ins capacity a.s High Commissioner for South Africa, at the lequest of the Cape Ministry. Even in South Africa, however, the federal idea is 110 noiv growth. It may, in fact, be traced hack to the proposals that were (int. forward by Lard Carnarvon over •'lO years ago. The proencs of softening the racial and traditional divisions of ■South African life has been exceedingly •s.oh. .Welling less, however, could be expected. It, yet remains to be seen ivhat Hie National Convention has been ii'ilo to achieve in (his connection. Like Omada •!.() years ago, .South Africa has "o doubt learned by this time that I,Pr problems cannot he solved by the most earnest, efforts to harmonise the interest? of separate and competitive Iho .South African provinces, while possessing absolute control over their own internal affairs, have practically no control over the internal aii'aiw "f South Africa as a whole. In the words of Lord .Selborno's memorandum"lll respect, of the strictly infernal affairs of .South Africa the people of •Smith Africa are „ 0 f self-governing, llley are not self-governing in respect of South African affairs became they have no South African Government with ""Inch to govern." The problem of dorrnco, the conflict of fiscal interests, railway rivalries, the native problem— upiin these questions the condition of the liritHi territories south of the Zambesi is simply chaotic in its l ac 'c of harmony. One of the first acts of the recent Inter-State Customs ami I'ailway Conference at Pretoria was to declare that union provided the only •solvent of the specific problems that were then submitted to the dele,pairs. It w«.s fully recognised that oidy by lifting such problems into an atmosphere above the region of provincial jealousies and competitions would there he any chance of a satisfactory settlement. The Imperial Government has recognised (hat the questions at issue ni'P such as the people of South Africa mu<t decide for iaemselves, and British interests in the new ■ constitutional' s"lt|einci;t under discussion have been lift, entirely to the British in Smith Africa. The National Convention, to '.'.'iiich fell the task of preparing a draft. Constitution for a United South Africa, consisted of twelve delegates from Cape Colony, eight from the Iransvaal, five from the Orance lliver Colony, and five from Natal. Its president was .Sir liemy de Yilliers, Chief •Justice of Cape Colony, and it- included among its members such prominent and representative men as .Mr Steyn (a former President of 'he Orange, Free State), Dr .Jameson, Mr Moor (Premier of Xatal), Mr Mernman (once famous as a leader of the Afrikander Bond), Sir George Farrer, and Sir Percy Fitzpatrick (foremost anion!! Imperialists on the I'aml), and Generals Botha, De la Hey, and De Wet. The predominance o( the i!uev and Afrikander element evoked some comment, especially as it. was contended that the movement towards union had set in at a time least of all favourable to British interests. Not- much light iias been furnished ill

a few scant cable messages respecting the actual I rend of the important deliberations d I tie National Convention during fhe past two or three mouths. I his is not very surprising, since tho proceedings have been purposely veiled in obscurity from the outset. The labours of the delegates had not bin,!: to gain from, and might easily have been shipwrecked bv, the interested com-j inent of this or that section of the public or the press upon the resolutions as these were being framed. To he j fairly judged, their work has been rightly deemed to merit- judgment as a whole. The attitude of the public in the various States, when the Convention produces it's scheme, is indeed the chief source of anxiety that remains. Tho draft Constitution, we road, was practically completed more than a fortnight ago. Its nature has not, how-j ever, been yet disclosod. As has been alwayi clearly understood, tho choice which confronts the .South African people in this movement- for closer union is the choice between a unitarian ] and a federal schemo of union. With some difference in detail, Dutch opinion is said to incline strongly in favour of unification, while a majority of the Uritish arc credited with a. preference for it settlc.mettfc tisgQ fees. Tligt,

the single Legislature should appear to the British to offer an escape from the hopeless position they occupy within the three largest colonies—the Legislatures being there under Boer controlis, perhaps, intelligible. Natsil and Rhodesia, are, however, in a different position. Natal could not he expected to he enthusiastic about a change, which would considerably diminish, if not destroy, her iiiHuence in the politics of South Africa, while the progressive and British development of Bhodesia, which has . unquestionably a great future before it, would possibly he arrested under the rule of a single Legislature in which Boer rather than British ideas might be expected to prevail. Mr Merriman, speaking in the Cape. Parliament in support of the single Legislature, said they did not want in Son Hi Africa, such a bundle of "jangling wrangling States" as is to he found in Australia. Mr Watson, |. for .some years the Australian Labour leader and cx-l'rime Minister of iho Commonwealth, was reported, moreover, in an interview which appeared in a Durban paper the other day, as having advised the Convention to favour unification rather than federation &n the Australian lines. That the balance of opinion among the members of the Convention has been largely in favour of unification does not, seem to admit of much doubt. Nor is it surprising that Natal should be found demanding the maintenance of her geographical boundaries and the sole right of managing her internal affairs, for the Natal press lia.s talked freely of federation and isolation as the onlv alternatives. It remains to he seen what the people of .South Africa will have to say on this important point, and what kind of reception they will give the draft Constitution which the Convention delegates are to expound to them pending its .submission to the various Legislatures in special session. In Lord Selborne's memorandum we find tlio following passage:—"South Africans should bo wary of assuming that all South Africa can be united under one Government in the same compact, manner as Natal or the Orange liiver Colony is united under one Administration. Surely in a country so great as that which extends from the Zambesi to the (•'ape of Good Hope many function* of Government must always in practice he localised in the hands of provincial or local administration," The rock, however, upon which the Convention appears to have come most dangerously close to splitting was tlio selection of a. sito for the South African Capital. As was to be exppctcil, the unquestionable claims of Capetown have been fiercely resisted by the Transvaal contingent, with the result that- after the Convention had exhausted itself in a prolonged wrangle oil the subject a compromise ha.s been agreed to under which the draft Constitution will provide for a legMativo capital at Capetown and an administrative capital at Pretoria.