VICIOUS VOLUNTEERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 12, 16 November 1907, Page 5

VICIOUS VOLUNTEERS.

BEERY BOYS OF THE BULLDOG BREED.

Brutal Behavior of the Nasty Navals.

The Questionable Hdnor of the Company. I

The attention of "Truth" has been directed to the conduct of the volunteers who travelled to Palmerston on 'Saturday evening last to attend the military tournament m the town Of the expansive square. The particular reason why persons m uniform should behave like escaped lunatics every time they travel anywhere by train has never been satisfactorily explained, and the growing popularity of the practice should engage the attention of the defence authorities, while the Railway Department might With propriety make provision for the protection of ordinary travellers by relegating the armed individuals to Cattle trucks, or specially-prepar-ed cages. We have been given to understand that the cdnduct of the Whole battalion was unseemly, but it was reserved for members of the Wellington Navals to act with brutality and cowardice. Because a crew of the corps happened to heat a weedy bunch of representatives from that heap of scrap iron H.M.S Challenger, that does not extend the privilege to the company to be a law unto itself, nor to convert itself into a nuisance to the travelling public. A number of the Navals were m a state of beer when the train left Wellington, .and flasks were emptied m the carriages on the way up ; the hill. At Paekakariki, more beer was consumed, and bottles of the linuid were passed around as the train proceeded on her journey. There is no' tiring objectionable m the consumption of hops if the conduct of the shakers is decorous, but when the razzle deteriorated INTO A DRUNKEN ORGY, with the accompaniment of the beating of drums and the singing of questionable vaudeville songs and noise as of Porirua let loose, it was time some responsible officer took charge of the proceedings. Even this species of crazy concert might have passed unnoticed were it not for the treatment of an unoffending civilian by members of the Naval Corps. The gentleman m question occupies a respectable position m Wellington, and "Truth" accepts his word Avithout reservation as giving a reliable representation of the facts. I-le states that he was m the lavatory when a Naval tried the door, and finding resistance forced the fastening. Discovering it was occupied, the blue-bloused blossom of a blackguard remarked 'with beery intolerance, "I didn't know you were m this b nlace." Now, when the door of a lasvajtory is fast, it is 'a sure indication that thc convenience is occupied, and the longshoreman should have known it. At any rate, the civilian asked, "Have you never travelled ?" The uniformed person's ideas Avere scanty, and he rejoined truculently, "Have 'you' ever travelled ?" Then someone behind the Naval remarked, "Let bim 'have it," and the Naval did. The space m the w.e. is circumscribed, and the civilian was unable to defend himself. The drink-inflamed brute got m Several blows before the ■' victim could force himself out into the carriage, where a number of other Navals rough-handled him and (threw* liini on the floor. The object of this cowardly attack complained to a non-com. who appeared' to he m charge of the men, but got no satisfaction, although the individual with a stripe on his arm extended his valueless sympathy. The civilian asked of the petty-officer the name of the Naval who had assaulted him, and the officer said, "What do you want to know his name for ?" The civilian replied, "I am going to take action!, against >hilm." Thereupon the name of the bell-bottomed brute was withheld, and the non-com. spoke to the injured person m a persuasive way. acknowledging that the volunteer had struck the first blow, that the civilian had been unjustly set Upon, and that he had the sympathy of the main body of the Navals :■ but it Was useless to take proceedings. The battered person had no independent witnesses, ahd those members of the company who did see the fracas would place THE HONOR OF -THEIR COMPANY .' before everything, and refuse to give incriminating evidence. This responsible petty officer said he would hold a further conference with the men, and offered to meet the civilian m the Clarendon Hotel on Tuesday morning. He failed to keep that appointment, and the victim of the outrage has entrusted the particulars of the assault to "Truth," with the object, if possible, of forcing an in*quiry into the circumstances. Thc unfortunate man had only recently submitted to two successive operations by Drs. MacKenzie and Kendall for .an eye wind nose complaint, and the rough handling opened the cavities under the eye and caused bleeding, which was only staunched with the aid of a medical man who was subsequently consulted. As showing thc disgraceful condition of some members of the company, it might be mentioned that at Waikanae station a woman was standing with a child held aloft from its' perambulator, when one of our drunken defenders jumped* into the matrimonial fruit basket, and was wheeled over the tussocks by a shickered comrade, to the obvious delight OF THE WHOLE BATTALION. ;,As already mentioned, the uproarious behaviour was not confined to the | Naval contingent, but was pretty I well distributed throughout the train, and many women .passengers were the witnesses and the unwilling auditors of some disgraceful performances. There are many volunteers who nnow how to behave themselves, una m the interests of the defence movement an earnest effort should be made by the companies themselves •tv stamp out the annoying nroduet of blithering braiulr-s- res-.. It is certainly the duty of the Railway Depart nu-nt to protrct - '--gulai* pasI senders from insult and injury.