GALLIPOLI DIARY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 199, 18 May 1920, Page 7

GALLIPOLI DIARY

HAMILTON'S STRICTURES ON A

CORRESPONDENT

REPLIED TO BY MURDOCH

"NO CENSORSHIP PLEDGE BROKEN"

B> Teleeraph-Presj Aflsooiation.

Christchurch, May 17. The following is the full text of Mr. Keith Murdoch's reply to statements contained in Sir Inn Hamilton's Gnllipoli diary and published in iihe cablo news :— "The facts are these: In September the .Dardanelles expedition 'had reached tiis most desperate of. its many crises. The. offensives, of August, though delivered, Mr. Bonar Law told me, by more divisions than Hamilton had.said were necessary'to win complete victory, had utterly 'failed. The troops were exhausted. A few fresh Australian and New Zealand troops were 7 coming forward. Sir ian was using them up in isolated offensives and frontal assaults against 6trrmgly entrenched positions, which'brought heavy expense in life fluthotit, in the opinion of those with whom T was in contact, gaining the slightest advantage. Part of our new Fifth Australian Brigade was thrown in, for instance, against Hill 60, whliph was not'vital to ns ; and lost fright. ■ fully. We were suffering a thousand casualties a- day, including sickness. Bulgaria was entering the war. Tor tho -.first time our. forces were going to be up .against big guns sent through from Germany. The winter was coming on, and most .of the men were still in their rags of summer clothing. The poorness .of supplies was in keeping, with a lack of support fi-orn London. I 'have a pep iectiy clear conscience as tow&it I did. I went to London and hit Hamilton as .hard as ,1 .possibly could. I thought aVital thing was to:get a fresh mind on the spot. The British Cabinet confirmed this view by,recalling Mm within a week of my report being by it. "He was _ not. again employed. "Hamilton misquotes one of many sentences I wroto about Birdwood. I think Sir William will agree that I served him at times with hard-work during the war, and that I showed my judgment of .Lis leadership. The,sentence quoted by Sir 'lan ; was my frank opinion, and I thought itnecessary to state it 'because the . recall of Hamilton would leave a big possibility, of General Birdwood betnz appointed in his place, especially as Kitchener was a tremendous believer in Birdwood. The truly essential' tiling was a fresh mind. Had Birdwood been appointed the evacuation would not have come ioff.. Hamilton was dangerous because he declared time and again evacuation was unthinkable.' Birdwood was dangerous in the chief .command 'because later on, ;when Monro went out, he was the only' corps commander who declared against evacuation,- and the reason he gave was the moral effect on British prestige in India. Sir lan now rays I hit'him below the bolt. The violence of his,language after four years is evidence of the hardness of the Mow that makes me glad. \But it was n fair and square blow. • As he6ays, I had the confidence of not only the Australian Cabinet, but also the British. The way they had been kept in the dark about the truth of. Gallipoli remains, to my mind, one of the worst because ono of the .most dishonest, ■incidents in the muddling of those days. '■ I began with Carson> then chairman of the' Dardanelles Committee, ajid Sir:Edwurd put me through a cross-examination at breakfast before he'accepted my statements. Sir Edward - is'it good.lawyer. He reminded me just the other day of that; strange interview. Ho took the facts to Cabinet, and I was inyited to meet nearly every member singly, •' and mot them all except Asquith, to whom I'had a letter from the Australian Prime Minister, but who broke two appointments. A6quith was, of course, deeply committed over the expedition/ The most-. pregnant interviews were with' Lloyd ..George and Bonar Law.' The former (said to me: 'You are writing to -Fisher?'' I said that I was.' He,said: 'Then it is your duty to let Asquith have - a copy of your, letter for the British Cabinet." I ;sent to Asquith a copy of -the very long letter! had written Fisher (for. himself, Hughes and \ Senator. . Pearce),' nnl it was printed as a secret paper-by Mr. 1 Asquith. And. I shall .never regret .that it was acted.'upon, as for its gener.il accuracy I jam quite prepared to hav3 it .published and, criticised. Cub* in it Ministers later told me that Sir Charles Monro's report bore out my .'report with striking similarity as to .the main facts, and within a very few,days j. of this report the troops were .off the peninsula. ■■•'''.".

■ "Now, as to' Sir lan's charges, I biolo iio censorship pledge. I was on Gallipoli .partly, as a newspaper..correspondent, and in this coirncctioii took the correspondents' pledge and >ept it implicit/. I was there also ias a re- . .presentative of tho Commonwealth ..Government which had given me a com- / mission of inquiry into certain phases' of the administration. I wrote nothing for publication without /jensor-. shi >.'•. I wrote -a report for the Prime' Minister .of my own. country and re.oei'ved liis thanks, and; also the thanks of the succeeding Prime Minister. There , .was nothing in'the .pledge forbidding thiit. .How could there 1 be when Sir ! lati Hamilton himself knew I had come to.write reports fcf the Australian' Government? That report was vital to' the situation and compelled the wavering and hesitant Coalition Cabinet-to make up its mind-and send out the new generals, Monro and Kitchener, who , both at .once agreed that evacuation'was necessary. I have met many .at the-front during, the war ,and never heard one question the .absolute necessity of /the evacuation. As to my war record, I leave that to the Australian arm;-, to whom I devoted mvself through the rest of the war as "completely and unquestionably as I 'did :when openly and squaTcty for their sake . I .took the action .for which I now have to beat a general's rebuke. . , General Hamilton's statement that I thought the Turk a tetter man than, those fighting .his.is .a fabrication. . . ."