VOLUNTEERS "ON STRIKE."

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13662, 28 March 1908, Page 5

VOLUNTEERS "ON STRIKE."

THE JOHNSON YILLE. RIFLES. ,

CHARGE OF . INSUBORDINATION.

A MUD*DLE.

, ; . Per Press .Association. WELLINGTON, March 27. , An' interesting and critical position* has. arisen as the result of.insubordination in the Johnson ville Volunteer Rifles, and^ :fs urid^tood l »thit the Council Of Defence is about to take the matter into consideration. i The troubles began with the election of< two officers of the company. Both Were elected a£ the same time, but the company wanted one to be senior* and tne /Other to be junior. Tbe Defence Department, how,- i ever, could not fall in with their wishes, as section 8 of the Defence tAct, 1886, says: "Where any commissions of liken rank and bearing bear the' same date, the holders thereof respectively shall rank according to the /dates of their prior commission, and in cases where there be no prior commission the afor,frsaid holders shall take rspak alphabet- , cally in the order of their surnames'." 1 That was done. Hence- the trouble. Then some thirty-four members of the company signed ja "round Robin" asking for the removal of a certain officer. That the Department, considered an act of insubordination. ' ' Under the' Act the O.CD. himself could have dealt with it, but as there was a good deal of feeling about the matter he nad a court of inquiry set up, and four of the men who had' signed 'the "round Robin" were charged before rfc with insubordination. . , The result of the inquiry has not yet been made publics officially, but there is a general impression among those interested that thfeicoitrt foUAd the four men guilty. &>o far, ■ however,, no further steps have been taken by the authorities. No . one knows (officially) whether the men are to be dismissed or reinstated; whether they are still to regard themselves -as volunteers or not. The result 19 that over forty of the members of the corps (tbiere are only about fifty - altogether) 'have tendered their resignations ..to., Captain Moore, and at the weekly ' parade" ■ lait night only six nten; put j^n an' appearance. With regard to the resignations, however, the position is not "quite simple. The Johnsonville Rifle Coras has only been in existence" about six mbnths, and section 53 off< the Defence Act, 1886, says: ,"Any volunteer when on actual military service' may quit his corps on complying- with certain conditions, one of which is the giving of three months' notice, to teirminatfc during the months of January or July." (By tho Act of last session the notice must terminate in' "March or September). He must also pay all; money due by him or becoming due by him under the rules of his corps. • " • Also the question has been raised whether a volunteer whose' conduct is [still the subject ' of -inquiry by a military court (for ;the ; court of inquiry's report has not been acted upon) is not technically under ifplrrest, and therefore not in a position to resign, apart altogether from the question whether any volunteer can raßTJprnintrHto has completed a year's service.