AUCKLAND NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2118, 18 October 1875, Page 3

AUCKLAND NOTES.

(FBOM OUB OW.N t COB"EBP6KI)ENT.)

The Volunteers and Espendi- •';■■■■ ■■ ■'.'- . ■■■ fear ■■ ;.•■.. - ■

Auckland, Saturday. The number of companies wbicli have surrendered their services or have been disbanded by the General Government during the' last couple of years in the various portions o£ the Colony, are mat- • ters which will not help to make mauy thinking persons believe that tlie popularity of the volunteer movement is on the increase. Although, the expenses connected with volunteering have been somewhat gradually lessened during the last year or two it seems strange that the Defence Minister, when the estimates for that service were before the committee, should intimate his intention of still further reducing the cost during the approaching recess. Many matters have tended lately to make volunteering less attractive, and I feel bound to assert that the enrolement of the Waikato Volunteer corps, or the Road Making Company, as it was termed, and its subsequent disbandment have had a very prejudicial effect upon, the movement as a whole. The personal feeling of dislike shown by the officers to the men, and, as a consequence, the men's unpleasant position, prove beyond doubt that neither results, in proportion to the expenditure, were achieved, harmony promoted, discipline maintained, or" the future of this branch of the. public service made acceptable to the public and the taxpayers by the —fgtion of the company in question The ■■•^onoßaet of some of the officers and men of thi3 volunteer company, as your readers are aware, formed a topic not only.in the public press but in the Assembly, and as the question is one of importance I cannot do better than allude to a portion of the correspondence which paved the way for the breaking up of the company, and which was laid upon the table of the House during the present session. Certain charges were made against one of the officers, and Major Gordon, the officer commanding the Auckland district) and who is inspecting officer for the Colony, was the President •f the Board and sent to the Defence Office a report after the termination of the proceedings, of which the following is the finding, as reprinted in Hansard :— " Finding.—The Court is of opinion that Captain Ilowe is not guilty of either of the charges preferred against him; and it is moreover of opinion that they were preferred against him by J. S. Craig in a malicious and/vindictive spirit. . ... "*Wm. Gobdon, Major, . " Investigating Officer, ««Jtewcastle, 30th March, 1875." The evidence when sent to headquarters, (said Mr W. Swan son, speaking in the House) felj into the hands of a man wh.o had his eyes open, and wrote the following letter :— . " Wellington, 26th March, 1875. '•Sib,—-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry held by you to investigate certain charges preferred against Captain Howe, Engineer Volunteer Militia, and to inform you that I hare perused them with no little astonishment, both on account of the manner in wjiieh you took the evidence, and at the conclusion at which you have armed.

" The first charge relates to the sale of a Government mare. v " I am quite at a loss to understand how you could have contented yourself with the very imperfect evidence with which you were apparently satisfied. The case was, at any rate, one of grave suspicion, and ifc was clearly your duty to have called Major Cooper, who, you must have known, would have given important testimony. The-following points, however, were clearly established, notwithstanding the lax and careless way in which you conducted the inquiry :— "1. That the mare was worth £40. " 2. That Mr Lovell did actually pay £35 for the mare, and that Captain Rowe received that amount for her, of which only £30 was paid to the public credit. "3, That Captain Bowe repaid to Mr Lovell £5 of public money without authority, or making any report to his superior officer. And, "4. That the Government lost at least £5 by a deliberate act of Captain Bowe's. " Now, the charge for such an inquiry as you were conducting was clearly divisible into two parts,— " 1. Had the mare been sold for £35 ? and (2), supposing this to be- proved, had Captain Eowe applied the £5 to his own use, and, if not, what had become of it? . " Yet, with the above facts established, and further evidence available, you simply, without remark or comment, report, as your opinion, that Captain Eowe was not guilty of the first charge, and that it had been preferred maliciously. " The second charge relates to the falsification, by Captain Howe's orders, .of the accounts of two men, Basherville and Flynn, with the view to obtaining seven days' working pay for his own use, thereby defrauding the Government of £2 2s. " The manner in which you took the evidence relating to this charge is even more unsatisfactory than that on which I have already commented. It was clearly your duty to have ascertained from the the witnesses the actual date on which the men went on pass ; the date on which the passes expired; the reason why,- if Captain Eowe expected the men to return, he caused the Government to be charged with the days on which he knew the men were absent, instead of the days when the passes had expired ; the date on which Captain Eowe first considered the men were deserters; the date upon which he actually drew the pay which had not been earned; the date on which he informed the Paymaster of what be had done; the date and manner in which the money was returned to the public account; the date on which the uniforms were paid for, the cost of which is alleged as a reason for having obtained the money; the fact whether or not Captain Eowe had the uniforms thrown upon his hands in any I true sense; the names of the men to whom, and the date on which, the uni--forms of Basherville and Flynn were disposed of; the nature of the explanation of Captain Eowe to the Paymaster, which satisfied that officer. Yet, ,notwithstandimg that you failed to put upon record any one of these important facts, it is established beyond dispute from th» evidence,— " 1. That the accounts of Basherville and Flynn were falsified, by order of Captain Bowe, in September last, and that he then drew, and applied to his own use, seven days' working pay on account of these men, which had never been earned. " 2- That no report of this circumstance was made by Captain Eowe to the Paymaster until the following March after this charge had been preferred, when, by the connivance of that officer, "the seven days' pay, wrongfully drawn in September, was, under false pretence, returned to the public account* " The charge, therefore, 'That Captain Eowe, in September last, so falsified the working pay accounts of certain men of his corps. (Basherville and Flynn), in order that he might qbtain for. his own use their working pay, ambunting"in,Bli to seven days' pay, and that consequently the Government were defrauded of these seven days' working pay,' was fully proved."How you can have permitted yourself with these facts proved, to report that Captain Eowe was not guilty of this charge, and that it had been maliciously preferred, is altogether past my comprehension ; but, before making any further comment, I will await any explanation you may desire to give.—l have, &c, "H. A. Atkinson." . That enquiry was conducted with closed doors. The correspondence will show that there are two sides to a question, and your readers can form an impartial opinion as to whether men who are treated in such a manner can have any love or respect for the volunteer system, or its officers. That retrenchment will follow there is no doubt; and it therefore becomes, the duty of the people to see that no government will allow the public monies to be expended on a system which has a ; tendency to make lords of a few and cause a feeling of dislike in a large b»dy. [Our correspondent is in error in identifying the volunteer movement in any way with the scandal noticed above. The Waikato Engineer Corps was not raised under the volunteer regulations, and we should be sorry to think that any volunteers—officers or men—would so far forget themselves as to be guilty of conduct like that which called for the Court of Inquiry by Major Gordon, or the severe letter by Major Atkinson on Major Gordon's remarkable finding. But if any company of volunteers should act so unbecomingly it would be no argument for condemnation of the service as a whole. —Ed.] '