TROUBLE AT HANMER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 616, 31 January 1916, Page 10

TROUBLE AT HANMER

SOLDIERS AT THE LODGE.; OBJECT TO NEW RULE.! MANY STAY OUT AFTER HOURS. TWENTY-FIVE DISCHARG ED TO-DAY. fSpecial to The Sun.| CULVERDEN, January 31. The even sonority which up to now lias characlerisotl the running, of The Lodge at Hanmcr, which,! thanks to the splendid generosity and; patriotism of Mr Duncan Ruther-j ford, and residents of Ainuri, is used j as a convalescent home for returned soldiers, has been rudely disturbed. Owing to the rapidly increasing: number of inmates, it has been! thought advisable to appoint a mili-j tary head, and Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Loach for the past few weeks has filled the position. The change in the system has evi-j dently not found entire favour, and, when a new rule was introduced,! requiring the soldiers to remain in j the Lodge grounds after 0.30 p.m., with very few exception the men on Thursday last ignored the order, and did not return until the old time, 9.30 p.m. Since then they have been con-; fined to the grounds, and the sequel j resulted this morning, when over 25 soldiers were discharged from the institution. I On being approached this morning by The Sun representative, Mr Duncan Rutherford stated that he had just heard of the matter unofficially, and considered it was, to say the least, an act of discourtesy to the' committee and residents that they had not he advised or consulted by the authorities before taking such extreme measures. "They are a decent lot of lads,"j said Mr Rutherford, "and although! they possibly acted foolishly, still, in; my opinion, the whole trouble might! have been avoided by a little tact, j I have, however, communicated with | the Minister, and asked him to stay! the proceedings until an enquiry can! be held. The Government owe that at least to those who support the home." THE OTHER SIDE. MEN OFTEN GIVE TROUBLE. ENCOURAGED BY THE PUBLIC. There arc two sides to every story, and the Hanmcr incident is no exception. Unfortunately, all the oflicers on the Headquarters Staff of the Canterbury Military District were out of town this afternoon, but a Sun representative had a conversation with another officer who has had a good deal to do with returned sol-1 dicrs. From what this officer said, it could be gathered that the conduct of at least a section of the men—including a number who have been at Hanmer —was not at all what might be expected of soldiers sup-

posed to be under discipline. "I yield to no man," said the officer, "in admiration for the gallantry of the New Zealand troops and of what they have done, but I do think that many of those who have come back have gol it into their heads that they are 'tin gods,' and I am sorry to say that they have been encouraged by the general public, which pampers them by buying them tobacco and drink on every possible occasion. livery complaint they make is accepted without the slightest investigation. "Even when they absolutely defy a Medical Board, their story is believed, and they are sympathised with. The other day a member of the C.D.C. told me that he had heard of some trouble between certain men and a Medical Board. 1 asked him what he knew about it, and he said the men had complained to the C.D.C. I said, 'Well, you have no right to listen to these complaints.' "He said, 'Of course 1 have. 1 am an oflicer of the Motor Reserve.' "To that I replied, 'Well, that makes your crime all the worse. Do you know what you are doing? You are encouraging insubordination, and in war time an oflicer who (foes that ought to be shot."" The reporter thought that this would be a very drastic step to lake, but admitted that such military misconduct deserved severe punishment. "An oflicer who does that kind of thing ought to be shot," was the uncompromising rejoinder. "Just you put that in your paper. There is more trouble than enough with these men, and it will not be put down as long as they arc encouraged by these people to ride rough-shod over the military authorities. I don't know anything about this particular case at Hanmer, and if I did I should not be allowed to discuss it, but from what I hear, I am very glad I was out of it."