Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1902 THE EXECUTION" OF AU TRALIAN OFFICERS. A PAINFUL EPISODE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 85, 11 April 1902, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1902 THE EXECUTION" OF AU TRALIAN OFFICERS. A PAINFUL EPISODE.

I NOW that Uie whole of the dreadful and wretched story of the deeds of some of the officers oi the Hush Veldt Carbineers has been tald, it is obvious that, presuming the guilt of the officers tried by court-martial and executed, only justice has been meted out. The narrative of the witnesses for the prosecution is not a tale of violence aud rapine as the

•dinary concomitants with war. , is an accusation of sordid murder >c gain, and desperate murders fol•wing in order to destroy traces of le crimes, all the deeds being perstrated under the aegis of an acredited military uniform. Preuming even a portion of the alleations tc be true, no Italian briands could have been guilty of lore atrocious offences. The mehods alleged to have been pursued ecall Australian bushranging epiodes, and even our own Maungaapu murders. * m m But the fact remains that there is ,bsolutely no excuse for the rigid ilence observed by the Imperial Liithorities in regard to the alleged :rimes\ the court-martial, and the sentences. The men tried, and exe:utea or imprisoned, had enlisted rom Australia, and, whatever their ,ins may have been, they presumaby had relatives and friends, who were entitled to know their fate as as possible. It will be remembered that Handcock's widow learnt for the first time cf her husband's .shameful death through .the belated newspaper account of the coairtr-mart'ial, when Major Lenehan had told his story to the Federal Premier. Even if the circumstances had been reported to the Commonwealth Government under seal of a measure of secresy in order that the relatives and friends of the accused might be told guardedly of their fate, the position might have been justified. But obviously even the Federal Premier was unaware of any of the circumstances, which have since been disclosed in their full horror, coming to these colonies as a bolt from the blue. * * * One may also comment on the utter folly of the suppression. In the light of the disclosures of the doings of some cf the officers of the Bush Veldt Carbineers, we can realise how the slanders on our army in South Africa, industriously circulated by'Leyds and his hireling crew could be used as that weapon more dangerous than a whole lie— a half truth. Here, according to the accusations, were two or three " black sheep " officers among thousands. They had abuseU theii position and opportunities to become virtually brigands. After a short career of crime, they are brought, to British justice, and punished to the very extremity of martial law. If publicity had been given Uj both crime and punishment the blander could have been answered promptly, and perhaps silenced. Instead", the press censor. suppresses all reference to outrages or trial 01 punishment, and the facts come out unofficially and apparently by accident many months afterwards Then follows 'the official explanation, which, ample in itself, is toe tardy to be of service as a silencei of slander. In truth, the very tardiness of the explanation will probably be used as an argument b> those who are willing to twist all evidence in the direction of proving that the British army does atrocious deeds. • ♦ • The motive of the Imperial authorities fn suppressing the information was doubtless a desire tr prevent any untoward circumstance from dimming the glory of the demonstration of British unity. But it was a most unfortunate error ol

judgment. The press censors and the War Odico must surely have known that, with troops going and coming and frequent drafts of returned colonials arriving in Australia and New Zealand from South Africa, tlie news must leak out sooner or later., and then perhaps in a garbled form. The information did so leak out, and also in a garblcl form, and the Imperial authorities have had toi do at last that which they should have done at first — tell the whole tnith. But the pity of it is that in the telling of the "whole truth the Imperial Government in a manner has heen placed upon its defence instead of being inthe impregnable position of justice punishing promptly and impartially, with nothing to hide. » * * Now that the details on both sides are thoroughly exposed, the newspapers are full of details, till one ardently wishes he could hear or read the last of the wretched ppisode. But one fact i.s consoling, in that the London .papers have made all haste to assure Australia that no stigma rests on it because of the ill dced.s of two or three persons who happened to g» to the w,ar originally from Australia. Colonial glory is by no means tarnished in consequence of there being only twu or three black sheep in all the large white flock. In truth, in view of the considerable number of volunteers to the war from the colonies, the few instances of brigandage, cruelty, mutiny and unmilitary behaviour generally redound to the credit of the Australian and New Zealand corps, while the honour we have won in many a stricken field abides with undimnied lustre. Leyds may scheme and lie, and hi. frothy press hirelings on the Continent may rave and scream. But even Continental peoples, with every de.sire to believe the wprst sf the British, canaiot manufacture out of the single episode of the Bush Veldt Carbijieers more than -x wretched half-truth which would have had no force at all had the British Imperial authorities not blundered into a suppression of the facts till fore- j ed to disclose them, not so much in self-defence against enemies as for the sake of explanation and vindication to friends^