THE WELLINGTON VOLUNTEERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 146, 21 June 1901, Page 4

THE WELLINGT ON VOLUNTEERS.

COMPLAINTS OF BAD FOOD.

A PROCESSION THROUGH TH£

STREETS

A "ROUNDEST. UP" BY THE

COLONEL.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)!

WELLINGTON, Thursday.

Trouble has arisen in the Newtowm Park encampment over badly cooked rations and prevailing discomfort. The heavy rains have drenched the men and their tents, and the complaint has been that both men and horses were underfed, while the food received was undercooked. An officer returned from the Transvaal said that in his experience at the front he had never put in such a. wer-k as that at the Park.

The outcome of the gramblings was a scene which has caused a scandal in the town. A civilian paraded the streets in the vicinity o: Government House bearing1 on a pole a bottle of tea and a piece of underdone meat, said to have been served out at the camp yesterday, the legend "Newtown Park Commissariat" being placed above. A procession followed the bearer of the pole, and four troopers were included in the number, their presence giving some importance to the scene.

A parade of the men was ordered today, and at ten o'clock Colonel PolePenton visited the camp and, calling the officers to him, addressed Them. The action of the four troopers who took part in the procession, he said, had brought disgrace upon the whole of the proceedings of the week. It was the most disgraceful thing that had happened in the whole of the colonies, and it was deeply painful that it should have happened when the reSresentative of the King was with us, n example must be made of the men who had been the cause of the scandal, and he (Colonel Penton) looked to the officers to find those men out and bring them before him for punishment. It was to be regretted that the men should have aired their grievances in the press. He laid the whole blame upon the officers, who, he said, should have seen to the complaints of the men, found out what was wanted, and by remedying them prevented the dis-

grace. Colonel Sommerrille was understood to say that he had unsuece&ji' fully tried to get matters remedied, and" the officers then endeavoured to find the names of the four troopers returning1, however, to report that the names were, not procurable. Colonel Penton then addressed the ■whole parade. Up to yesterday, he said, the men had borne their hard lot like soldiers, but by the action of four "infernal cowards" the whole regiment had been disgraced. There were in the ranks, he said, some "infernal curs" who were not men enough to step forward and own up. so as to save the good name of their comrades. "You four curs," exclaimed the colonel, "who have spoilt the whole show have not the pluck to come out, but you sro and make a disgraceful scene when" the son of your King is present in the city. In my regiment if any of the men had done as these four have done their comrades would have given them a jolly bad time."' The colonel then told Lieut.-Colonel Sommerville that there would be a searching enquiry, and the men were dismissed to their quarters.

The real source of the trouble seems to be the departure from the old course of leaving the cuisine arrangements in the hands of the quartermasters of the respective battalions.

There hare been unbounded complaints, and the contractor, rightly or wrongly, is blamed for the manner in which he has discharged the duties he had undertaken. Lieut.-CoLonel Sommerville, who is in charge of the encampment, was instructed by the" commandant to haTe the men identified who had taken a leading" part in the uproar, but it is Understood that this will be a very difficult matter.

One complaint: by the men encamped is their not being- allowed to participate in any of-the functions. Besides the disgraceful proceedings above described, "burial services" have been held, the raw meat and bad rations being consigned to earth by bare-headed troopers, with the "Dead March" and sham funeral obsequies. The men complain of being treated like dogs. Colonel Penton and. other officers being1 busy in connection with the Royal visit, the men had no one to appeal to. It is alleged that over 100 troopers, the majority from the country, joined in the scandalous scenes. The aHvilian who carried the pole with the meat and tea was a sandwich-man hired by enraged troop* ers to perambulate the city. Reporters of the Wellington dailies state that Colonel Penton peremptorily ordered them to leave camp, but ihey refused. Afterwards he asked them to suppress the words he used towards the men.