WAR WITHIN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2768, 11 May 1916, Page 6

WAR WITHIN

NATIONAL RESERVE SPLIT HATAITAI COMPANY RESIGNS ALMOST IN A BODY It seems clear from what occurred at a" meeting at liataitai last evening that the iiaitaitai-lulbirnie Company of the National Reserve is about to resign almost in a body. The meeting was called as a general meeting of members oi the company and residents of the district to go into the present position of the He-serve. When, tfle meeting opened, Mr. H.Amos, who had been tne major of the company, took the chair, but said that as certain of the correspondence to be dealt with directly concerned hin£~lio would retire from the chair, and allow .the meeting to elect another. ■Sir. A. h. Bayfield was elected to the chair, and he called on Mr. Amos to read the correspondence. Mr. Bayfield remarked that tie and other officers had resigned, and the company was without officers. An Opportunity to Resign, Mr. Amos read a letter addressed to hiiii by Colonel T. AV. Porter, District Commandant of the Reserve. Extracts follow?— ' ■

"In the general interests and___welfare of the National Reserve, also tae due maintenance of discipline and obedience to constituted authority, by finding of the Board of Officers and other circumstances, 1 have decided, after full iniiuiry, to afford you this opportunity of resigning your acting commission in the National .Reserve. Before giving reasons for this impelled action, I desire to express my personal surprise that you shoufd ignore tho necessity for strict obedience to authorities above you, and due maintenance of discipline among those under you. In this I regret to say, during ■ your service in the National Re ■serve, you have signally failed, as shown by the following, viz.: ■ . "In October, 1915, you circulated to all the officers of No. 5 Group, without permission of lyour commanding officer, many subjects allegedly in the interests • of the Reserve, but in fact condemning it, and calling in. question tho actions of the executive officers and regulations under which the organisation was working. . . '

"On March 11, 1916, you again circularised (without permission, or through your commanding offioer, Major Davis, O.C. Group) the several unit officers—tho said ciroular containing a resolution of B Company calling a meeting of all members of the Reserve in the Wellington district. In that circular you expressed per. sonal concern upon the aspect and conditions of the Reserve and sought the support of all other officers.

"On Mairch 14 tho O.C. Group, Major Davis, wrote x officially requesting you to stay the issue of the circular of March 11. To this request you personally refused compliance, thus showing direct disobedience of orders, and you did not oven in writing acknowledge' receipt of the letter.

"On March 16, in direct disobedience of written instructions referred to above, you again circularised the O.C. units, wrongfully attaching thereto a copy of Major Davis's letter of March 14, thus committing a further breach of ordinary etiquette apart from military regulations. "On April 19 while attending a Board of Officers set up on April 13, to consider certain subjects of reference to bii. dealt with by the O.C. units, you contributed to the. failure of tho business by moving an improper resolution to expel from the room certain officers, including your immediate Commanding Officer, Major Davis, who was properly presiding. This net has been separately dealt with by a Board of Officers and referred to nio for inquiry. "I have purposely reviewed all tfteao acts, breaches and irregularities, to avoid' any apparent military harshness. I fully recognise you as a civilian citizen, inexperienced in thp military discipline etiquettes. Tho underlying, motives of the | actions, I am unable to conceive. I can only, pervive tho insidious damage to tho National Reserve organisation it is my duty to protect."

Admiration For "Masterly Inactivity." Mr. Amos then read his reply, iu which he explained his motives, and said, also: It appears.to,ma that your request is distinctly unfair, since no ■ opportunity has been afforded mo of combating the charges made against me. At the Board ot Inquiry, set up for quite another purpose, I was given to ■ understand that I should liave an opportunity, and I naLUrally expected this right. I could, I am aware, demand an inquiry, and could conclusively provo that my actions have- been governed solely by my wish to benefit the National Reserve. I have, however, wasted too much valuable time in a movement which cannot possibly carry on under the existing conditions, ft is therefore, with very great pleasure that I resign the rank conferred unon mc by you, .because I have neither the lime nor the inclination to trouble further in the matter. I do not care to associate myself longer witu a movement controlled on liresent lines. I deny that you are justified in asking me to resign without a, full i n . quiry held; but since resignation is agreeable to mo, for reasons which I now give 1 gladly accede to your irregular request What appeared to me and to others from the beginning as the most obtrusive mark of the movement was the lack,of orsanisatlon. f such a movement were to be a success ,t could be so only on sound busimrfi Tu ," w «s* deplorable lack of method that compelled u« to.take action loii. perceive in my actions what you are Pleased to call insidious damage to the .National Reserve, whose organisation it is your duly to protect. I intend leavlug it to the public to decide whether energy in seeking to redress abuses is more culpable than a passive acniiiescoucp (which apparently you demand on the part oi your officers) in tho lethargic ana somnolent administration of the &. serve. If an endeavour, to remove ano. raahes ami to give fresh life to anionbund movement is an offence to authority, then vhcre is something wroii" with the authority. I would recommend to your notice the statement recently made by Air. Lloyd iieorge, which is not withput relevance to the present matter--Ihe war cannot be run like a Sunday School treat, in tendering my resigna. .tion, I beg to express admiration for the masterly, inactivity of the Headquarters btafl. J. did not imagine that so promisnig a. movement could be killed' in so short a t ; iue; lut I did not know what obstinate incompetency could accomplish. Others Follow the Officers. .When the matter was thrown open for discussion, air. A. Leigh Hunt said that the company uad from the start had cause to congratulate itself on the calibre ot its officers. (Applause.) He did not know of one officer who did not have tne eutire confidence of the company (Hear, hear.) They had conducted thcml selves very .finely in this trying timo with the higher auciiorities. He proposed to stand by the officers, and gO . out that evening. (Hear, hear.) He moved j—"That this meeting of residents of Hataitai congratulate Major-. Amos and tho other officers on their continued efforts for the benefit of the organisation of the National Reserve, and exceedingly rcreta that at every turn they have been "met by an antagonistic and unreasonable at. titiide on tDe part.of the powers that be." The motion was carried unanimously. Ono of the non-commissionod officers stated that all. the non-coms would, as far as ho knew, resign with the officers, Various, others present rose and said that they too were resigning. II: was mentioned that.the company owned some property, and Messrs. Amos and Bayfield were elected trustees for the residents of the district. ; It was considered that some other organisation should bs formed, ' and Messrs \V. J. (iaudin, 11. Kogers, D. C. Todd, \ Leigh Hunt, It. Tolan, C. E. Bennett, J, C. Barbery, and H. Amos wore elected a committee to go into the question and bring down proposals to a meeting to beheld on May 24.