MR ASQUITH'S DENIAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 11935, 24 March 1914, Page 5

MR ASQUITH'S DENIAL.

DESIGNATIONS DUE TO MISUN-

DERSTANDING

LONDON, Monday. l s Mr Asquith denies that a "warrant was ever intended to bo issued against the Ulster leaders, or that a general inquisition of the officers was contemplated; inasmuch as the Government hoped that such a contingency as the employment of troops against Ulster should

never arise. The Government newspapers denounce tho resignation of/the officers as an attempt of. an "aristocratic military caste" to destroy-the Parliament Act and to declare that the time was opportune to revise the system of recruiting officers. "-• The Daily Mail states that the Fourth InniskilJings, of which regiment a large number signed the Ulster Covenant, have been ordered to England. The Mails adds that Brigadier Gough's brother (General Gough), who is Chief of Staff at Aldershot, resigned. The War Office has informed officers domiciled in Ulster, or whose parents reside in Ulster, that they may temporarily resign their commissions until the trouble is over. It is hinted that it is tho belief of Ministers that the resignations were •due to an honest misunderstanding. Brigadier-General Gough and others were erroneously given the impression that it was intended to move the troops against Ulster, and.they immediately resigned. They have accepted Sir Arthur Paget -'s assurance that their duties will be confined strictly to police duty in the event of their regiments moving, north. Sir Marcus Samuel (sometime Lord Mayor of London) offers £10,000 towards a fund to relieve the families of oflicers resigning from conscientious motives, the offer to be conditional on the Unionist leaders announcing their intention to restore their commissions on regaining power.