1590
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 65

Volunteers or any other portion of the New Zealand Forces, or officers who have served in Her Majesty’s Land or Sea Forces, as may be required to carry on the duties of the camp.

152. After temporary appointments have been notified in camp orders, such staff officers and non-commissioned officers shall be obeyed accordingly by the Volunteers for the period of the camp.

153. Camp equipage, if in store and available, will be supplied on loan as far as practicable, but all losses and deficiencies which are not satisfactorily accounted for will be charged against the capitation grants of the corps forming the encampment.

154. Artillery Volunteer corps will be permitted to form encampments for gun practice at such stations only where this practice can be carried on.

155. No attack is to be made by any Volunteer corps by night or by day on any quarters or encampment of Volunteers unless a mutual understanding between Officers in Command has first been arrived at.

156. Volunteers attending at a camp are not to be allowed to quit their lines or billets except in uniform, and will on no account wear their tunics open or otherwise than on parade, nor will they wear any article of dress not prescribed by regulation; and the Provost Marshal or any officer or non-commissioned officer belonging to the camp will, if he sees any Volunteer disobeying this regulation, at once ascertain the name and corps of such Volunteer, and inform his immediate Commanding Officer, who will fine the offender for every such breach of regulations.

157. Attendance at an encampment will reckon as two day-light drills for capitation.

158. At least two drills per diem, each of not less than an hour and a half’s duration, are to be held on each working-day in which the camp is formed.

159. A non-commissioned officer is to be placed in charge of the camp equipage issued to each corps, and a Quartermaster (or other officer if there be no Quartermaster) for each battalion, and it will be their special duty to see that the equipment is returned to store or handed over to an authorized person complete and in proper order.

BOARDS OF INQUIRY.

160. At Boards of Inquiry, the President will cause minutes of the proceedings to be taken during the inquiry, and shall himself forward them to the convening officer.

161. The report shall be that of the majority of the Board, and signed by all of the members; but, in case of difference of opinion, the minority may record and append to the proceedings their reasons for dissenting from the opinion of the majority.

162. The officer, non-commissioned officer, or other member of the Force against whom any charge is preferred, shall be entitled to have a written copy of such charge or charges delivered to him at least twenty-four hours before such inquiry is held; and the District Commanding Officer, in the case of a member of the Volunteer or Militia Forces, and the immediate Commanding Officer, in the case of the Permanent Militia or Special Volunteers, is held responsible that this is done.

163. The accused member of the Forces is not allowed to be assisted by a solicitor during such inquiry, but may call witnesses, whose evidence, with any statement he may himself desire to make, shall be forwarded with the proceedings.

164. The President and members of a Board of Inquiry shall be dressed in uniform, and, on assembling, make a declaration upon honour not to divulge any part of the evidence taken, or votes or opinions of any of the members, or any other part of the proceedings or report, till the case has been finally decided upon.

165. Any officer, non-commissioned officer, or member of the Forces against whom any charge is preferred shall attend the Board in uniform, and, if in arrest or a prisoner, without his side-arms.

166. Boards of Inquiry are not to be summoned in trivial cases by Commanding Officers.

COURTS OF INQUIRY.

167. In minor cases, such as ordinarily arise, the Officer Commanding the District is empowered to assemble a Court of Inquiry, which is not a judicial body, to ascertain the truth or otherwise of any charge respecting which the evidence is conflicting.

168. Such Courts have no power to administer an oath, and are to be assembled only to assist the Officer Commanding the District or Defence Minister in arriving at a prima facie conclusion in cases of doubt, and to collect and arrange the necessary evidence.

169. Courts of Inquiry may be directed simply to take evidence, or both to take evidence and to report, as the case may be.

170. Courts of Inquiry are always to be held with closed doors, and the members of the Court will at the commencement make a declaration in writing in the following form, which will be attached to the proceedings: “I, A. B., do declare upon my honour that I will duly and impartially inquire into the matters to be brought before this Court. I further declare upon my honour that I will not on any account or at any time disclose or discover my own vote or opinion, or that of any particular member of the Court, or divulge, &c., unless required to do so by competent authority.”

171. All evidence taken at a Court of Inquiry is to be recorded as nearly as possible in the words of the witnesses, and in the order in which it is received.

172. When the inquiry is concluded the minutes of the proceedings and report, if any, will be signed by the President and members, and forwarded by the President to the convening authority.

173. A Court of Inquiry may be reassembled as often as the convening authority may deem necessary, and on every occasion of its meeting it is competent to receive and record new evidence.

DISCIPLINE.

174. Meetings are not to be held for the purpose of expressing an opinion upon the acts of a superior officer, or the Defence Department, or of recommending any particular course of action; nor are memorials to be drawn up to the same effect; and no meetings, except those called together by or under the authority of the Commanding Officer of a corps or battalion, who will be responsible for doing so, will be recognized. If any officer or Volunteer has cause to think himself aggrieved, he will represent his case through his Commanding Officer to the Officer Commanding the District. Any appeal against the decision of the Officer Commanding the District will be made through that officer for transmission to higher authority.

175. Officers and Volunteers of a corps or battalion are not individually or collectively to attend political meetings or join in public political discussions or demonstrations in uniform.

176. Although it is intended that every opportunity shall be given for inquiry into well-founded complaints and the redress of grievances, officers and Volunteers will be personally responsible if they prefer complaints of a litigious, frivolous, or malicious character.

177. When a Volunteer has been dismissed for misconduct, a notification of the fact, with the cause of dismissal, will be inserted in district, corps, and battalion orders.

178. Disobedience of orders or any disrespect shown to any officer must be instantly reported to the Officer Commanding the corps or battalion; and it is earnestly to be impressed upon all ranks that discipline depends so essentially upon obedience to non-commissioned officers that not only must all commissioned officers see that it is always duly enforced, but non-commissioned officers failing to report any contempt or neglect of their authority will be liable to be instantly reduced.

179. An arrest is held, in accordance with the custom of the military service, to mean a suspension from all military duty and participation in rifle-shooting until the case leading to such arrest may be disposed of.

180. After an officer or Volunteer is reported as having been placed under arrest he cannot be released except by order of the officer to whom he has been reported.

181. Duty with a corps is held to mean not only presence under arms on parade, but the performance of all administrative duties of a military nature in or out of uniform.

182. Any Volunteer who fails to produce for inspection, as required, or on dismissal from the Force for misconduct to deliver up, any arms, accoutrements, or other property intrusted to his care, within a reasonable time, will be proceeded against under the Defence Act.

183. Volunteers in uniform shall give the military salute to His Excellency the Governor at all times, and to all commissioned officers of the Defence Forces of this colony, and officers of Her Majesty’s Service, when in uniform.

184. Officers of corps or battalions are required to report, through the proper channel, all breaches of discipline and neglect of duty to the Officer Commanding the District.

185. Any officer or Volunteer proved to have written or to have instigated any communication to a newspaper on matters connected with his corps, or calling in question or reflecting upon any act of any superior officer, shall, if an officer, be liable to be deprived of his commission, and, if a Volunteer, be liable to be fined in accordance with “The Defence Act, 1886,” and to be summarily dismissed the Force.

186. Officers and non-commissioned officers of the staff will be held responsible that they do not allow themselves, without permission of the Defence Office, to be complimented, either directly or indirectly, by means of presents or collective expressions of opinion from persons who are serving or who have served in the corps to which they are or have been attached, except in the case of resigning or leaving the district.

187. No Volunteer is to reply to an officer or non-commissioned officer when found fault with on duty or in the ranks.