WHOSE THE BLAME?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 217, 1 February 1913, Page 3

WHOSE THE BLAME?

FOE THOSE OBSOLETE, GUNS. The chief topic of conversation in military circles in Wellington is the sudden discovery by the Defence authorities that the new mountain guns imported for the D. Battery are obsolete. These guns, as has already been reported, have been hastily shipped hack to the Vickers, Muxini Company, from whom they were purchased, by the Athenic, which sailed for London the other day, and the men of the D. Battery, after training with them for the best part of a year, are now faced with the prospect of going into camp without any guns at all. It has previously been stated that there is now available a gun of approximately seven years' later design, and this weapon is now being imported, but this explanation is considered by officers who have a peep behind the scenes to barely com- the facts. The general opinion in well-informed circles is that someone hns perpetrated a costly blunder, and that the country will have to pay through the nose for it. It is stated that the reason for the hasty despatch of the guns from New Zealand was that the manufacturers had offered to find a purchaser for them—presumably on the Continent of Europe, which is in ferment at present—provided they were delivered in England by a certain date, but this statement is countered by a serious alle- \ gation in certain quarters. "I happen to know," said an officer to a representative of. the Dominion the other day, "tiiat the D Battery could not have used these guns even had they been allowed to remain here till after the annual camp next month, for they had no ammunition of the requisite calibre, and no means of getting it. The ammunition required lor them is not made now." Another statement is current that the bungle originated in the High Commissioner's office, and that a certain official's position is affected in consequence.