TROUBLE IN FLEET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 11

TROUBLE IN FLEET.

'QUESTION IN COMMONS.

MEN perfectly loyal.

tact of the officers. INQUIRY INTO PAY. CASES OF lIARDSHir. _ -j-elesrapli—P ress Association—Copyright (Received September IS, 7.45 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 17. 'At qn es< ' on *' mo to-day in the House Commons Commander A. R. J. Sonthby, Conservative member for Epeom, as»k ed if tlle reductions in the y of the Navy were agreed to provisionally by the late Cabinet. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Chamberlain. It is not easy to say, but when I arrived at the Admiralty I found there an order for llic cuts to be made. Air. A-' V. Alexander, former First Lord: Was not the late Cabinet specifically warned by the Admiralty of the danger of what has since occurred ? Were pot, the details left for discussion -with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr- Mac-Donald ? The advice given by the Admiralty was that the men would Jovally accept, the cuts if all the public service shared, and also if an adequate cut was made in unemployment pay. (Loud Ministerial cheers.) Mr. W. J. Brown, Labour member for Wolverhampton West: If the manoeuvres are entirely suspended, should the police and teachers and Civil Service employees interpret this to mean that a strike is their only weapon ? Men Act With Bestraint. The Speaker here intervened. Mr. Hall obtained the solid support of the Opposition when he later moved the adjournment, to discuss the trouble, in he understood 12.000 of the ratings had adopted passive resistance. Mr. Hall commended the Commander-in-Chiefs promptitude and common sense. Personally, he thought the Government had broken definite obligations toward the men, many of whom were facing difficulties. The men appeared to have acted with restraint. There was no incident and no rioting. In replying, Sir Austen Chamberlain, paid a tribute to the senior officers commanding the Atlantic Fleet for tho tact and common sense of their actions, Tvhich would, he believed, be warmly echoed by tho men of the Fleet. As regarded tho lower deck, although there was action which could not be excused, he might almost say that if such action were to be taken at all it spoke well for the general discipline of the Navy that it should have passed so quietly, without disturbance, except to actual routine duty. He felt confident, that in accordance with (he tradition of the- service the men would loyally uphold it. and would not look back to what happened, but forward to rendering furthcr service to the country. Loyalty ol Petty Officers. The recall of the Fleet appeared to have conveyed an inaccurate impression of what actually occurred. The Admiral recalled some of the ships which had already gone to sea for exercises. It was not coriect for Mr. Hall to say that the Fleet was un:ted in this matter. It- was unfair to those who had remained perfectly loyal. The great majority of the petty officers had not deserted their duty. (Hear, hear.) After dealing with the detailed criticisms of the cuts made by Mr. Hall, Sir .Austen said that with regard to special cases of hardship and unfairness the Admiralty was going to make inquiry, with the hope of finding a method of alleviating hardship. The general scheme of economy laid Sown by the Government was required in order to restore national prosperity, and regain national credit. They could not allow it to be oaten away in detail, hut they were quite ready in case of exceptional hardship to provide a remedy if they could. That was the purpose of the inquiry, *"hieh would be opened at the earliest possible moment after the arrival of the ships at their home ports by the respective Commanders-in-Chief. Labour members sought to continue the debate there were loud cries of "Agreed,", and Mr. llail withdrew his motion. Ihe address sent, by the men of the Atlantic Fleet to the Lords of the Admir- j filtv recalls the steps taken by ihe dis- j affected sailors of the British Navy in j 1797, when dissatisfaction on the lower ! deck was rife. Even though the trouble of 1797 is re- j ferred to in history books as a series of ; mutinies, it is recorded that the men be- j •haved more as strikers than as mutineers, j division of the fleet was the | first affected, the revolt being precipitated ' hy the grievances of the sailors —scanda- . lously low pay, bad food, degrading punishment, no proper medical service, i ar id administrative injustices. The men made representations to the . ■Admiralty, saying they received insufficient pay and pensions, insufficient protons, that the sick were not properly cared for, that comforts supplied for tho E? amen's use were embezzled, and that insufficient shore leave was granted. The main demands made bv the men *cre granted, but delay in voting the increase of pay arid proclaiming the Royal panlon, which the men had made a point in their demands, caused the mutiny to break out again, the disaffection this time appearing in the ships at the Nore and _ Duncan's fleet, at Yarmouth. 'lhe "pithead fleet, however, did not lend its 6 >'nipathy to this movement. A more serious position was now laced. jlio men made additional demands to the p nect that officers who had been turned out of any ship by the mutineers should "■not be employed again in the same ships Without the consent of the ship's comf'an .Y, and that the Articles of War should altered. .1° most of the new demands the Admiralty returned a refusal, and as the cader of the men. Richard Parker, perthe situation became threatening, ° r a lai'ge//nuiuber of ships were impli- £ a tet], ij le Admiralty, however, showed "unless, anc ) a f U .,. .J period of anxiety "« country learned that the mutiny had Elapsed. By June 14 the last ship, the "e on which Parker was established, ami Parker and 18 other men hanged. The Navy shortly after,at,ds splendidlv vindicated its character.