The Mutineers of the Egeria.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 5085, 22 September 1891, Page 3

The Mutineers of the Egeria.

At the request of the editor of the Sydney Sunday Times (Mr 11. A. Ridsdale), who sent Home the result of a public subscription in New South Wales, Truth has made inquiries into the whereabouts and worldly condition of the wives of the so-called mutineers of H.M.S. Egerin. It was about time something of the sort was done, at> these poor folk are in a shocking condition. The story of the wife of Second-class Petty Officer Allen, as told in Truth of August 6th, makes one's blood boil. It is too lengthy to narrate here, but I (London correspondent of the Dunedin Star) may say that, while up to the time of the arrest of her husband Mrs Allen was a happy wife and mother —being thrifty, tidy, and a good manager she is now in the workhouse, ailing, brokendown, and hopeless. " The worst (says Truth) that can be said against Allen is that, in resisting what nine men out of ten considered tyrranical abuse of authority, he forgot his duty to his superiors. Look, now, at his punishment. The man himself condemned to long years in the felon's cell; the home broken up ; the children starved, sick, and dying; the wife driven down hill through the successive stages of destitution to gin shop, prison, and workhouse." Is this, asks Truth, justice, or a burning disgrace to the Navy'l