DEFENCE FORCE.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16167, 22 March 1918, Page 6

DEFENCE FORCE.

THE HIGH COMMANDS. RUMOURED CHANGES. (SPECIAL TO "THE PRESS.") WELLINGTON. March 21. Ever since the Motuihi affair there have been rumours of .the retirement or translation of Major-Genoral Robin. To-day there is a rumour afloat which, sounds more true than any of the others. It is that General Robin is to go Home to England, and that General Richardson is to come out hero a 6 commandant. Rumour does not particularise as to whether General Robin is to take an appointment m the field—which seems, on the faco of tilings, unlikely, in view of his high rank—or whether ho is* to havo General Richardson's xiosition m England. Colonel Gibbon has been very anxious to get away from hero for a long time. Ho has been responsible for the camps and all defence -work connected with the training of the men for active service. He wants now to get back to his regiment, this being his ono hope for a future as a. soldier. The report is that he will be allowed to go, aud that Colonel C. R. Mac Donald, an Imperial General Staff officer, who has been head of the instructional staffs in the camps, is to bo Chief of the General Staff. There is not much likelihood of an announcement being made on the subject for a week or two, unless it should happen that publication of this report makes it desirable. Replying to a question on the subjoct of those rumours, the Defence Minister said simply, "Idlo rumours."