NO "BLUNDERING"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 254, 27 October 1939, Page 5

NO "BLUNDERING"

MR. SEMPLES COMPARISONS v e AUCKLAND, Oct. 25. e The references b;/ the Hon. R. y Semple Io “blundering” in the last t war are the subject of comment by the New Zealand Herald to-day. d “Mr. Semple’s title to criticise New' 5 Zealand’s effort in the last war is not. very clear, nor are the grounds of his - criticism,” writes the Herald. “He says that this time ‘there will be none of the blundering which took place at the beginning of the last war.' There may have been blundering in 1914, but there was also capacity for action, ■’ as shown by the early dispatch ov-er- ■’ seas, (ompletely equipped, of two ex- ’’ peditionary forces. On this occasion i- there is plenty of blundering but very 1 little action. The Government wailed - until war had actually broken out be- ;• fore starling work on the mobilisation s ’ camps ‘de luxe.’ These may be completed two months after the out break g of war, but 'ahead of schedule,’ to ). quote Mr. Semple. The blame for this ). blunder and for having to pay overf. time falls on the politicians and not -, the soldiers. The latter had recom1. mended the construction of mobilisa- ; lion centres in ample time for them ■, to be ready without, any special effort 2 or- Semple trumpeting. “As ii is, New Zealand's first echelon is still being housed in makeshift camps, with inadequate cooking ar- - rangements and in old, leaky tents. ' The rain which exposed this blunder j’ revealed others at the same- time. The l' 'de luxe’ tamp at Hopuhopu was ill- • provided with drying rooms and the (I new recruits were furnished with ir only one uniform and one set of underclothes. People were amused • and at the same time indigant. at the _ 'complete organisation' that could not c | supply men with a spare pair of ; trousers. A distressing crop of colds was the fruit, of blunder-proof and '(ie . luxe’ camping at Hopuhopu. And that y is only part of the story of muddle . and mud that Auckland troops and s their parents and friends are lolling. ; Fortress and coastguard troops could 1 add to the narrative. It is distasteful having to raise these matters, but Mr. Semple asks for it by his invidious comparisons. If he and his colleagues could show a record of action and achievement in any way comparable with that of 1914, he would be belter entitled Io strut, and boast.''