THE KNYVETT CASE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 15 July 1910, Page 6

THE KNYVETT CASE.

t : ; ■ ; - DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. , EXPLANATION AND CRITICISM. ' .SPEECHES BY PREMIER AND i " MR. MASSEY. . " : . -he Knyvett case was discussed in the i House yesterday upon a : motion by the. 1 Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) that j' • certain correspondence on the matter should be laid on the table. The Prime Minister said that he wished C-. ; v to;remark that a great number of misstatements had been made in regard to ' the case. ; He went on to twit tho Opposiiion with having used tlio caso for elec- .- .' tioneering purposes. • Mr: Massey: That is not correct. iSir Joseph: Didn't you say that. Knyvett was to be a candidate against the Hon. G; Fowlds? Sir. 'Massey: No, that is not. so. . ,Sir Joseph: Then you have been mis- !. ..''; -. represented by your friends. Sir Joseph went on to say that, although the Chief of , the General Staff 'had in no way dohe an injustice to Knyvett, lie had been asked to havo him dismissed. "All Sorts of Pressure." Sir Joseph: I was told in- the "Auckland preSs that 1 unless 1 I yielded to tho. ' ' clamour, we would lose Auckland seats, :■ ' • arid all sorts of pressure was brought to '•' bear on,mo to do wrong, le another man. If lvnyyett had withdrawn the insubordinate language his charges would have been inquired into. -•Mr. Massey: It must be -remembered .'thjit. Knyvett. was. found not guilty of using .'insubordinate language.. - Sir Joseph said if the offence of one ■officer were to be allowed to pass un- " noticed, what about'all the other officers : ,who were , doing their duty.? "... Mr. Massey: I know of- numbers, of -cases twenty times worse. ! .Sir Joseph said it was singular that members;who were interesting themselves . . in the matter, and desired a Royal Comjnission, did not take into consideration the fact, that the Government was about' to embark on. a. new defence scheme. Mr. Poole: Yon. made ho reference to that' fact ill your telegram to me. Sir Joseph : Perhaps-riot: ] i Mr. Poofe: Your reply was exceedingly ' curt, to say. the least of it. Sir Joseph: That was due, to,the in-, "telligence of those to whom the commnnication was sent. What I said wag!that the Government was able to. administer .. - the Defence: Act without the assistance of a .Itoyal Commission. ■ Alleged Injustices. Continuing, Sir Joseph said: Two of the alleged injustices were:; . That Colonel Eobin had tried his own case, and (2) . that Colonel Robin had communicated articles to The Dominion newspaper. On tho .first head, Sir Josepli read an affidavit, sworn by Colonel Tuson, stating that at no time did Colopel Robin exer- '<■ cisb'or, take part in any act of authority : relating to this matter, ncir was he con- ' suited : by. Colonel Tuson or any other person. . Mr. Massey: Who was the convening officer ? Sir Joseph:' Captain Seddon, on behalf ' . ' of . the . Adjutant-General. , Mr. Massey:.-Then it was Captain Seddon who' directed proceedings. Sir Joseph: 1 do not know whether tho -, hon. gentleman. is trying to blame .another officer now. ■■. Mr. Massey: . I want to get at . the real culprit. I am satisfied it is not Captain Srddon. .' , , Sir Joseph: Will the hon. gentleman . gay who 'he 'blames? • . • . '. ; ' ..Mr/: Massey: ,I. will in good time, fSir Joseph said. Colonel Robin was one of the. most honourable and straightest >.men he had ever met, and if he hud done anything w;rong it would have been put on record. • At a later ; stage I 'the Prime Minister .'declared that Colonel Robin had all along' . asked for an inquiry so far as ho Was i . i concerned. . . • -. Mr. Massey: ;Well, why not give .it to ■him? Sir, Joseph: Because there is no officer senior to' him in the country 'to hold such.: an inquiry. Mr: .Massey: Then Colonel Robin can \do'exactly as" lie pleases. ■ • ;. ■ '-. Sir-Joseph:. The,new commandant will bo .his superior, -and will be able to hold such an inquiry. " . ' . The Prime "Minister said' that Knyvett . could have been.disrated— V ' . Mr, .Massey: Or reprimanded?. - Sir Joseph: No, he could not be rcprimanded nnder the regulations, seeing that he had used insubordinate, language. It had to be remembered that-he had.refused to'withdraw the. statement com- . plained of. , The Auckland Agitation. In the course of further remarks at this juncture the Prime Minister rc'.ferreil to : the agitation which .was kept ■■up in Auckland in. the matter.,. Even . the. women were, expected to. help., to , bring to bear on the Government. ' Was it not a fact that he had . . Wired to an Auckland member that his . sjThpathits. were with the man who was in', trouble?. ' . ". '~ Mr. Poole:. What, about the Technical School matter? Sir Joseph: Oh, no. " Miv Massey: What about-it? Sir. Joseph: No,'l don't intend to do .anything to prejudice. Captain Knyv'ett's : case. -' In conclusion, Sir Joseph said that,'in •his own opinion,;.a regrettable mistake j was made by Knyvett ,at the start. i . Though, he was certain he was zealous in his desire to visit Petone and Palmerston with his company he went about it-the wrong way. Then Knyvett made .a mistake .in coming to the conclusion : that Colonel Kobin was antagonistic to him. Knyvett was desirous of promotion -.. from captain to major. In this regard - there, was a complimentary memo, from Colonel Robin on the subject, in which no unfriendliness, at all was ' shown. Colonel Robin, however, in this memo. , -pointed out how difficult it was to count time outside New Zealand'for the - . position/ ' Next there, was the assertibn that Colqnel Eobin had supplied certain ■ hews articles to The Dominion. They had the assurance of Mr. Plimmer, chief reporter of that journal, that such was . not a fact. .Mr.'-. Massey-: Have you read Murray's evidence on the point? Sir.Joseph: Well,. I know Mr. Plimmer .. to.be a very reliable man, and I should ' \ prefer to believe him absolutely. . . The Prime Minister added that upon ■ the arrival of the new commandant the ' inquiry asked for by Colonel Eobin would be held. (Applause.) Remarks by Mr. Massey. Mr. Massey (Leader of the Opposition) said it was unfair to ask. the Houso to discuss, the matter before it), had digested tlie papers. The attempt of the Prime , Minister (o belittle the meetings held by the gentlemen who (.ravelled 'from one end of the country to the other out of a patriotic desire ,to put thenview of the ease before the peopleSir Joseph Ward: One of tiiem was paid .£6O. ' Mr.' Massey said the tour was financed by two hundred pounds, which half - a dozen girls, collected in tin- street, in Auckland on the Saturday oil which tho news of the King's death was received, lie had never used the incident for political purposes.. He was of opinion that Captain Knyvett had Ijcen subjected to persecution, and the wires were being pulled, by whom-ho was unable to say. Mr. Massey read a letter to show that ' Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson gave permission to Knyvett for his men to como to Wellington in uniform. The Primo Minister: After it was refused by two Mirfisters. Also, all that was excused by the Defence Council. There was no trouble about that. -.Mr. Massey '.referred to. "apparently inspired" paragraphs which appeared in the Wellington papers belittling and humiliating ..Knyvetfs company. An inquiry should be held into Colonel Kobin's conduct in that connection. It was at that juncture that Knyvett wrote n letter which was conuilaincd of. If he (Mr.^

Massey) had suffered as much humiliation ho. would have written a letter twenty times stronger. Continuing his remarks in the evening, Mr. Massey asked if Captain Seddon was tlio convening officer who decided that Clauso ■! of the charces should not be proceeded with. ' Sir Joseph Ward': No. Mr. Massey: Then who was the convening officer? Continuing, Mr. Massey declared that thero was not a member of the House who did not think that Knyvett was unduly punished. It was like hanging a man for committing petty larceny. He hail never used the caso for political purposes. Other members of his party viewed it differently from himself. The suggestion that he (Mr. Massey) had tried to persuade Knyvett to stand against Mr. Fowl lis for Grey Lynn was ridiculous in" the extreme. Sir. Poole (Auckland West) expressed his satisfaction that a Board of Appeal hail , been set up. - Remarks by Mr. Fis'ner. Mr. Fisher (Wellington Central) said that the Government did not do the right tiling until it seemed possible that it . would lose the Auckland seats. There was nothing more ludicrous in British humorous literature than Knyvetfs trial. He did not say whether Knyvett was m the right or in the wrong; he was prepared to await the retrial. He had all experience somewhat similar to that of Knyvett, with tho result that he had walked out of the service. As a result it had saved .them money, saved lnm time and enabled him to get into Parliament without any trouble. (Laughter.) Our Defence System. Mr. T. E. Taylor (Cliristchurch North) said ho was sure that Knyvett did not have a fair trial. He detested the military systems of older lands.. Last year lie moved in tho direction of protecting tho citizens from the snobbery of the militarv, but his proposal was negatived by 52 votes to 8. The proposed Appeal Board was grossly, unfair, in that it conferred the rights of a citizen only on- an officer. To-day New Zealand was being dragged into a defence system which ' was on nearly every point similar to tlio systems of the Old World. Mr. Russell: We are forced to. Mr. Taylor: If we considered the matter quietly, wo would come to the conclusion that we were not compelled to °Resiimlng, Mr. Taylor said that he believed in compulsory training, but there was v a difference- between compulsory training and compulsory service. There would be trouble ere long over the defence scheme. For instance, if New Zealand claimed the time of the workers for military service it would in return havo to concede to them the right of employmeat. A first-class defence force could bo .provided with only one-tenth of the machinery which it was intended \to set *Mr. Myers (Auckland East) and Mr. Lang (Manuk.au) spoke in favour of a new trial. . , , . , Mr. Fr.iser (Wakatipu), who took up the other position, Purged that Knyvett was' not punished . for writing a letter, but for writing "such a letter! No defence force would have any value without discipline; The proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, however; were like comic opera. , ', , Mr. Mander (Marsden) declared that the public had taken np the Tight stand in regard to the matter. _ Mr. Reed (Bay of, Islands) said that he strongly sympathised .with Knyvett, but he considered that the' Government had . acted rightly throughout. 'Mr. Jennings (Taumarunui) stated that after going, into the matter he had' come to the conclusion' that- Knyvett did not get a fair trial. The 'Prime Minister, in reply, referred to a pamphlet - which purported to give the true facts in regard to the case. He stated that there was omitted from it, a very important letter from Colonel Woolf to 'Colonel Patterson for transmission to Knyvett, who replied to it that he was unable to alter his' letter. He asked' why this point was not included in this pamphlet, entitled "The Whole Facta ef the Knyvett Case."' Sir Joseph Ward -further , stated that the evidence as reported in the pamphlet -:was not the same as that handed to'him- by .the, deputation which purported to be the. same report of the proceedings taken by a trained reporter. The provision for appeal in ■the new Act was meant to. prevent political agitations subversive of the discipline of. the forces being directed against the Minister for Defenoe. The. motion to. lay the correspondence on the table was then carried, and at this stage (11.45 p.m.) the House rose.