WHOSE THE BLAME?

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1661, 30 January 1913, Page 4

WHOSE THE BLAME?

''■ F ( OR THOSE 6BSOLETE GUNS. Tho chief topic of conversation in wiH« tory circles in Wellington is tho sudden discovery by tho Defence authorities that tho new mountain guns imported for D Battery aro obsolete. Theso guns, as ha« already been, reported, hnvo been hastily shipped back to tho Vickcrs,;Mnxim Company, from whom, (hoy were purchased,' by the Athonic, ivhich sailed for London tho other day, and the men of.D Battery, aftor training with them, for-the best part of a year, are now faced with tho.prospect of going.into camp without anv guns at ■'■ nil. It has previously been stated that there is now available a jjmV of apprbximately seven years' Inter design, and this weapon is'up* being imported, but Hits explanation, is. considered by officers who have had, ,v peep behind the scenes to barely cover tho facts. • Tho general opim'oh in Well-informed circles is that someone has perpetrated a costly blunder, find that the country will have to-pay through the nose for it. It is ftatod that the reason for the hasty dispatch of tho guns from "New Zealand was 1 that the lnatiufocturors had offered (o find a purchaser for them—presumably on thfi Contineilt of Europe, which is in a.ferment at present—provided they were delivered in England by h'certain dhtc, but this statement is countered by &\ serious ■ allegation which is ciuront in certain quarters. "1 happen to know," said on officer to a representative of Tltn Dominion* yesterday, "thntM Battery could not have used these.guns oven had they been allowed to rcnaiti here till after the annual catnp next month, for they had no ammunition Of the requisite calibre, and no means of getting it. The ammunition required for them is not; made how... - Another statement is current, that the bvihglo originated in the High Commißdoner's office, and that n certain official a position is affected in consequence.