THE FOUR COLONELS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 October 1938, Page 6

THE FOUR COLONELS

WHY THEY WERE DISCIPLINED JUDGE ADVOCATE-GENERAL'S OPINION MADE PUBLIC BY DEFENCE MINISTER (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, October 2. “What about the four colonels,” was the only information sought from the Minister of Defence, the Hon F. Jones, in the form of a question at the conclusion of an address at St Clair Presbyterian Church last night. The Minister, in reply, produced an opinion given on the matter by the Judge Advocate-General of the Forces, in the course of which it was stated that “ the action was taken by General Duigan entirely on his own initiative as a disciplinary measure and the Government had nothing to do with it.”

Mr Jones outlined the circumstances of the controversy in which the four colonels engaged and then read the following opinion (not previously published) given on the case by the Judge Advocate-General: —

“It has been suggested in some quarters in the Dominion that Colonels Sprag, Macky, Wilder and Gambrill were posted to the retired , list without having had an opportunity of defending themselves in respect of the charge against them of communicating with the Press in breach of defence regulations. That suggestion is contrary to fact, because they were given such an opportunity, and all, by written replies, intimated that they had no desire to put forward any defence. Needless to say, the suggestion does not come from the four colonels themselves. The Chief of General Staff, Major-General J. E. Duigan, had previously discussed the question of procedure with me as Judge AdvocateGeneral. Action was taken by General Duigan entirely on his own initiative as a disciplinary measure, and the Government had nothing to do with it. If the officers concerned had resigned their commissions, and then published their statement, no blame under the regulations could have been attributed to them, but their course of/action constituted a breach of the regulations, which the Chief of General Staff considered he could not overlook in the interests of the service as a whole. .He held that if' deliberate breaches of regulations by senior officers were countenanced, it would be difficult to enforce discipline upon junior officers and other ranks.” At the conclusion of the reading of this Mr Jones remarked that the Judge Advocate-General was Colonel C. H. Weston, president of the National Party.