THE KNYVETT CASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 14

THE KNYVETT CASE.

DEPUTATION TO SIR J. G. WARD. DEFENCE OFFICIALS UPHELD. COLONEL ROBIN EXONERATED. WELLINGTON, January 19. The deputation appointed in Auckland to wait on the Prime Minister on behalf of Captain Knyvett had a long interview with him to-day. The members —Messrs Dickson, Nicholson, Peacock*, Wade, and Leviand —were introduced by Mr Wilford, M.P. They contended that Captain Knyvett had not be"en given a full opporunity to prove the charges he had made and that another opportunity should be afforded. • Sir J. G. Ward replied at considerable length. He was quite satisfied, he said, as ik.3 result of a very careful investigation into the whole matter, that no one connected with the Defence Department had the slightest feeling against Captain Knyvett. Moreover, as the result of tna. investigation, he was of opinion that Captain Knyvett, who was reported by Colonel Robin and Colonel Tuson to be a keen and capable officer, had been in some respects absolutely disregardi'ul of the ordinary regulations connected with the Volunteers, the neglect of which was bound sooner or later to get him into serious tr<9tfble. During the whole course of his expeiience with official matters he did not know of anything more unfair than that which had been done to Colonel Robin in this instance with a view of exculpating another officer. He would .show them from official records that Colonel Robin neither interfered nor suggested nor influenced anybody in connection with the matter, and that the complaint on the part of Captain Knyvett and his Auckland frisndfi that the action ta.ken was due to improper interference by Colonel Robin was unjustifiable. The procedure was carried out by an Imperial officer, the Adjutant-general (Colonel Tuson). The hostility which had apparently been engendered against Colonel Robin did not commence with this particular trouble. It went back further, nnd while he (Sir J. G. Ward) was anxious fc. see that justice was done to Captain Knyvett or any other Volunteer officer, he would not" allow any officer to be unfairly charged and dealt with in order to try to help to justify another man's action. The assumption was that Colonel Robin had opposed the trip of the Auckland Artillery to Wellington and that he had a personal animus against the officer commanding that company. In April last year Captain Knyvett applied through the O.C.D. for promotion to rank of major, and the Adjutant-general (Colonel Tuson) reported after investigation that under the regulations it could not be done. On the receipt of that information a statement was published in Auckland that Captain Knyvett had been made to suffer from sheer technicality. An officer ought not to want to commit a breach of the regulations to enable him to obtain promotion, nor should any pressure be brought to bear upon anybody to attain that end. To obtain promotion an officer required to have seven years' service in his previous ran!:, and Captain Knyvett had had. only three years and 11 months, vvhat position, ho asked, would the Chief of the Executive Staff be in if he improperly recommended to the Minister o-i Defence that an officer should be promoted who had not sufficient service to warrant his promotion under the regulations '! He ■,-jir Joseph) said he was referring to that matter because ho eaw through all the reports a distinct feeling of antipathy to the Chief of Staff, which had given rise to this trouble, and he was going to put the case fairly before them. That proposal for promotion was the beginning of the trouble. On October 7 Captain. Knyvett wrote to Captain Ellis, of the Petone Navals, with regard to a visit to the annual training camp here, and Captain Knyvett said : " I have had the utmost in getting passes granted, but have at last be.en assured of then)."' Er. «iis reply on October 13, Captain Ellis soil he appreciated Captain Knyvett'a difficulty in regard to passes, and congratulated him en having obtained them. He added : " LMelayed posting this letter pending receipt of a reply from the Defence. "Department. They state that they know nothing of your authority for passes, and furthermore that it is unlikely that such an expensive special privilege would bo granted to an individual company." On October 26 Captain Knyvett wrote :

' " We propose leaving Auckland en Frij day, 29th inst. Is that date convenient for you?" Captain Ellis replied : " Yes; delighted, Please arrange officially with the Defence Department so that I may requisition for tents, etc." On this subject, Sir J. G. Ward said he wanted to nay that no application for passes was received by the Defence Department in connection with No. 1 Company from j Captain Knyvett until Saturday morning, | October 30, when an application arrived ! at headquarters for the first time, at 9.30 a.m., asking for permission to visit the Petone Navals. It was replied to by _the first express on the same day to Auckland asking for what purpose the visit was, and what would be the approximate cost. The next information the department received was that the company had started on Friday, October 29, and had not received the of the O-C.D. The fact was, said Sir J. G. Ward, there was no euch thing in this country, and he did not think there ever would be, unlimited authority given to any officer to incur the expense of such a journey without reference to the Ministerial head. Neither Colonel Paterson nor Golonel Tuson or anybody else had the right to incur such responsibility without Ministerial authority. If it was allowed in this case every Volunteer company in New Zealand could do the same. In this case there had been a disregard of the regulations by this company, which could not be allowed by any company in New Zealand.

Mr Peacocks : We understand that they paid for it themselves. Sir J. G. Ward : Yes, and they have applied for a refund of the amount- !£QO). About 60 members of the company, he continued, wanted to go to the Palmerston North military tournament, and it was on record that the Government had refused to pay the expenses of Volunteer companies to that gathering outside a certain radius. As to the correspondence with newspapers, the Prime Minister declared that Colonel Robin had only answered certain questions in a way which was no broach of the regulations, and beyond that Colonel Robin had not done or suggested or dictated anything in connection with the matter to any newspaper in New Zealand. As regards railway passes, every Volunteer officer knew that he could not travel out of his district with his company without the authority given by railway passes. The Minister of Railways was personally applied to by members of Parliament for passes for No. 1 Company's trip, but he refused them, and rightly so, because the cost of passes would be charged against the Defence Department. On October 28, Mr F. Lawry, M.P., tele, graphed to him (Sir J. G. Ward) urging that passes should be granted, and he replied at once : " No formal application made; sorry cannot see my way to interfere in any way." He told other members of the House the same thing. In another case the company had incurred an expense for electrical training without any authority- In the ease under review, ho added, there was unfortunately a want of recognition of the ordinary discipline that was accessary for the control of a. Volunteer company and for the administration of the service on proper lines. Dealing further with the case out forward by the deputation, Sir J. G. Ward, asked why the application for railway passes was not in the head office of the Defence Department before the detachment was on its way to Wellington. As to who made the charge::, he read a letter from Colonel Woiiie stating that Captain Knyvett's company had left Auckland for Wellington without leave, and submitting that a grave breach of discipline had teen committed. Every Volunteer knew that his right to travel over the railways free was controlled by the authorities. The trouble w as really ended on November 26, when Colonel Wolff e suggested that the mattor should be allowed to rest where it was. Colonel Robin sent that report on to Colonel Tuson, who was responsible for the dis inline of that branch of the service, and he also added an expression of opinion that the matter should Ks allowed to rest where it was. That ended the whole of the trouble as far as that stage was concerned. Then came an application for a refund of £9O, the railway fares inclined by the company in coming to Wellington, and it was declined because no such expenditure had been authorised. He considered that a very unfair attack had been made on Colonel Robin by Captain Knyvett in his letter, and he read a letter by Lieutenanteoloml Patereon to Captain Knyvett giving the latter an opportunity to moderate the tone of his letter—an opportunity of which Captain Knyvett refused to avail himself. If the offensive portions of the letter had been left out the circumstances would have been fully investigated. The Prime Minister read further correspondence- to show that Colonel Robin's connection with the case ceased after he had sent in a report on Captain Knyvett's letter to the effect that

its tone was insubordinate. .a to till " arrest " to wnieh Captain Knyvett subjected, it was only a Volunteer arrest. It was Colonel uson who gave orders to that effect on t.lie ground that Captain Knyvett had been guilty of insubordination, and he did it without reference to the Government or anybody else. Colonel Robin had nothing to do with it. Colonel Tuison, in his opinion, did what was absolutely right. The O.C.D. reported that Captain Knyvett did not appear to recognise the gravity of the position he was in, and he asked that the matter bs referred to the Adjutant-general. The setting-up of the Court of Inquiry was clone by the Government and hy no one else. Colonel Robin had nothing to do with it, directly or indirectly. As to tho Board of Inquiry, the statement had been made that one of its members was of foreign birth. When the court met, Captain Knyvett said he had no objection to the personnel of the. court. Captain Sandiman had been a nationalised British subject for many years, and was a keen, energetic Volunteer officer, and he regretted that that aspect of the subject had ever been, mentioned. Mr Dickson : I regret it too. It was never mentioned in Auckland or at tho public meeting. The Prime Minister added that he had gone through the whole of the papers, and had seen nothing to bear out Captain. Knyvett's charges against the Chief of the General Staff. Captain Knyvett should (have put his charges into writing, an 1 then they would have been investigated If such a general reflection could be mao j> they might a.s vreil have no Defence D-' partment a,t all. Discipline could not •, maintained if such statemente we#f allowed to be madfi without action Ifin ■ taken. Captain Knyvett had taken a coin-so which it was very difficult ■ > justify He had made charges against *h-:-wrong main after having travelled with his company from one district to anofchei without permission of the authorities The duty of the Board of Inquiry was to report, as it did, to Colonel Tuson, who expressed the opinion that Captain Knyvett. had been guilty of an act o£ gross insubordination, and who recommended his dismissal. The Cabinet, after full consideration, agreed, and advised his Excellency the Governor to carrv out that racorcmWidatkm. Colonel Tuson had made his report on the evidence taken by the court. Mr Wilford pointed out that the shorthand writer's report showed that the president of the court stated that the court was satisfied that ihe statements were bona fide and not malicious. The Adjutantgeneral, be contended, had no evidence before him that was given on the first day. No evidence was taken by the board on that day. A shorthand report was taken on behalf of Captain Knyvett. Sir J. G-. Ward admitted that that wps a very important ooint. Re would call on the board for explanation, end would al c: ■ bring ihe matter before the Adjutant - general. On the receitjt of the report he would (rive the representations of the de nutation the fullest consideration. He had, however, no symivithv the sugge«' tion to set up a Royal Commission to incmire into Defence mp+ters cjeneraMy. Tho. Government was fully able to carry out its own responsibilities, and would deaf with this matter fairly and justly.