UNRULY SOLDIERY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 146, 17 December 1913, Page 4

UNRULY SOLDIERY

LIVELY TIMES IN NEW SOUTH ' WALES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, 6th December. One of the most remarkable military camps yet held in Australia is that of the sth Infantry Brigade (New South j Wales), which is being concluded to-day |at Liverpool. It has been a "dry." j camp. The sale of intoxicants was not allowed within the camp, and the introduction of alcoholic fiquor was forbidden. i The camping site is close to th,e town of' Liver poof, and mainly in order to make the 'liquor prohibition effective tho town was declared but of bpunds, and no one was allowed to go from the camp into the town unless equipped .with a special permit, A large section of the young soldiers (some of them are barely 18 years of age) resented this restriction. A mob of them tried on Saturday evening ' to get to the town, bub they were blocked at the bridge over the St. George's River by a guard stationed on the bridge. The guard was hustled, and was having a bad time when reinforcements were hurried along in the form of a relief party with fixed bayonets. The unruly crowd came into close contact with the armed party, and at the time .of highest tension some of the bayonets were levelled to the charge position, but at the crucial moment an officer shduted, " For God's sake put up those bayonets." On the following day, Sunday, a strong armed guard, stationed with fixed bayonets on the bridge, was confronted for four hours by a mob which sought to break through. Civilians, including women, who had occasion to go through the mob to get to or away from the camp were roughly handled. Coarse jeers and abuse were directed at the guard and at the .policemen from Liverpool on duty at the bridge. At sundown stones were showered at the. defenders on the bridge, and a' soldier and a police constable were injured. The armed guard, which must have felt intensely provoked to give the, rioters a 'taste ot cold steel, stood steady and firm. ' At one point the disorderly crowd numbered -about six hundred,' though only a portion took an active part in the rushes, stone-throwing and use of offensive or disgusting language. Three of the trainees were arrested by the police, and this had a steadying effect on the remainder. On Monday there was no crowd at the bridge. The Brigadier, Colonel Cook, had made up his mind to take the "go" out of the unruly trainees. The whole brigade was marched out into the country early on M'lm? day morning, and kept at fatiguing marches in a very trying heat on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The water supply ran short, and the supply 'of provisions was not adequate. When the brigade returned to camp on Wed' nesday evening after ha.ving had to bivouac in the open for two nights, it was a very tired, dirty and generally limp brigade. Naturally the officers in the camp, when questioned by. headquarters, said the newspaper accounts ~>l the trouble were grossly exaggerated, and the official story of the gruelling given to the whole brigade on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was also very mild. But it ia nevertheless true that there was serious disorder at die camp, and that drastic punishment followed, to uhe grea.t discomfort of the innocent as well as tho guilty. '