BURNING OF CANTEEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1939, Page 6

BURNING OF CANTEEN

A SYDNEY CAMP

COURT OF.INQUIRY

VARIOUS REASONS GIVEN

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, November 22.

A small section of the men in .the Second A.I.F. camp at Ingleburn, near Sydney, burned down a small temporary canteen, either as a protest against alleged over-charges by the man conducting the canteen or out of exasperation at denial of the provision of a "wet" canteen. *

A military court of inquiry is trying to fix the reason and the blame for the burning. Senior officers said that only about 40 men, incited by ringleaders, took part in the disturbance. The canteen was declax-ed "black" on the.previous night. . •

The authorities had received a hint that trouble might occur, and the canteen employees loaded all the stock on •a lorry and re*moved it to safety. After the burning of the empty hessian structure, with its set of wooden shelves, the demonstrators moved to the largest ! canteen. There they were met by a picket with fixed bayonets. An officer addressed the men, and they dispersed quietly. ,

The complaints against the canteens, which are run by a civilian contractor, arose when some men declared that they had been : served with sour milk and* that some of the glasses in which soft drinks were served were chipped and cracked. They claimed, generally, that prices were too high compared with city prices. ;

Damage to the canteen was; variously estimated at £5 to £15. The proprietor, Mr. H. F. Reynolds, said that he had "no hard feelings" towards the troops, but he blamed the fire on three "trigger" men, who, he declared, vited and led the others. He clainled that the demonstration was not against the prices he charged, which were the same as city prices, but that it was against the "dry" canteen system. Conversations with a number of the men also suggested that the demonstration against the canteens was a gesture in support of a campaign for wet canteens. On some of the canteens were scrawled such slogans as "Wet, not dry," "We" want wet canteens," and "When it's wet, we'll buy."

"I think that a mountain is being made out of a molehill," said the camp commandant,. Brigadier Allen. , "These men are high-spirited '• and some have not yet settled down \q < army routine. They are fine men, their behaviour is splendidy and I am confident that they will make fine soldiers."

The new system of army-controlled canteens for military has been planned to come into operation on January 1, but special efforts will ; be made to take over the canteens at the A.I.F. camps before then. The Federal Cabinet is reported to be still divided on. the question of "wet" canteens, but meanwhile maintains'its policy of prohibiting them. The results 'of the "wet" canteens in Nefar Zealand military camps may be a determining factor if the Australian policy is changed.