"RAGGING" IN THE ARMY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7665, 26 March 1903, Page 2

"RAGGING" IN THE ARMY .

THE GRENADIER GUARDS SCANDAL. A GRAVE' INDICTMENT. Some extracts from a letter to the "Times," written by Admiral Cochtaue, and which lead, as the cable message stated, to the dismissal of certain officers from the Grenadier Guards, throw a good d^al of light on the "ragging" scandals in connection with that regiment. Admiral Cochrane served as a* cadet in the Baltic during the Russian War (1854), and received the Baltic medal. He commanded the battleship Tyne, CTuising off 'Sua-kim, during the naval and military operations in the Eastern Soudan in 1884. and, in recognition of his services, had conferred upon hkn the Egyptian medal and the Khedive's bronze star. Always an admirable .officer 1 , notable for the order and discipline of hLs ship, Admiral Cochrane, after the inspection of the fleet by- Admiral Lord John Hay, at Devonpprt. in IGBB, received a letter from the Lords of the Admiralty, Specially complimenting him upon the efficiency of the Tamar. The Admiral is now on the retired list. A TRADITIONAL SYSTEM. A& the outset of his letter, Admiral Cochrane states that in the Grenadier Guards — " and happily for the reputation of our Army, in this regiment alone" — a system has existed of late years', and is now considered traditional, of holding subal-'-terns' courts-martial for the trial of young officers for any charges brought against them not only of a social, but also of a military nature. " It has been the custom for these courtfi- | martial," he continues, "to be summoned by the senior subaltern. The court consists of a president and two members?, the attendance of all other- subalterns being exacted. They were held much more frequently in the Ist Battalion than in the others, and in the Ist Battalion the colonel was in the habit, to 7 use the consecrated term, 'of handing over' young officers' to bo dealt with by the senior subaltern, which nearly invariably resulted in their being sentenced byVc.'.s irregular tribunal to be flogged. This flogging was administered cm the lower part of the back, which was bared for punishment by the removal of their nether garments, and blows of great severity applied with a cane or stick, in numbers varying from six to forty. A young oflicer last year who received the latter number fainted under the crupl severity of the punishment, but even six blows with the instrument employed were sufficient to make blood flow, as was constantly tlie co.se. " What greatly added to the inhumanity of those proceedings vriis that all the ofiicers present were compelled to administer their share ;of the strokes if the numbers permitted, and comrades were obliged to apply blows to their own personal Jriendsunder threats of receiving similar punishment themselves. If a young officer, in commiseration of his friend, applied a stroke considered too light by the president, he was called on to repeat the bio v. "The disgust cf young officers of ordinary gentlemanly feelings at witnessing and being forced to participate in a. scene of this nature can well ho imagined, ar.d requires no comments from me ; I therefore leave this part of the subject. ORIGIN OF THE TROUBLE. " My nephew, tutoring the Army through Oxford, acquired at once a taste for tho military^purt of his new profession. In his leisure hours, instead of leading a life of absolute frivolity, he Kttidied military history, commenced the study of Russian, and after nine months' psrvic? went through a. course of signalling at Aklershot ; ho passed out. with a special certificate, and was nit oncb. appointed signalling officer to bis battalion. His capacities as an instructoi' may ba inferred by the fact that the battalion signallers under his instruction achieved the nr?t place of all the regiments in ( ireat Britain. During this time he was appointed acting staff signalling officer for the Homo district. In this capacity ho carried out all the signalling arrangements for the royal procession of Oct. 25 — no small undertaking. " It was soon after what n?emed to be a successful commencement of his military career that an extraordinary incident occurred, which brought :ny nephew before the flogging tribunal. Invited to stay five days at the home of a. comrade in Scotland, he askid leave for this short period of the chief staff officer under whose immediate orders he was then serving, the battalion signalling being finished for the year. He omittcd-.to a.*k leave as well of the colonel of the battalion, which, it appears, he ought to have done under the circumstances. After two days' absence the coionel recalled him by telegram. He severely reprimanded him for being absent without leave, refusing to recognise the leave obtained from the chief staff officer as a mitigation of this offence. Colonel Kinloch finally told him he- would be handed over to the senior subaltern . " Knowing what this formula- meant, he asked -to see General Sir R. Trotter, on whose staff he was serving. vjolonel Kinloch thereupon placed him under arrest. The general, however, was out of town ; therefore my nephew was released from arrest in the afternoon. Brought before the subalterns' court-martial, the president told him that he had been handed over to him by the commanding officer. Evidence on oath as to this can be obtained from many of the officers present. He was found guilty of causing trouble to his ■commanding' officer, and sentenced to be beaten. UNUSUAL CONSIDERATION. " Whether the members of the court disapproved' of flogging for military offences and considered the colonel's punishments already quite sufficiently severe, or whether thsy were influenced by the character of my nephew as a good comrade, it is a fact that unusual consideration was displayed in his case. He was not subjected to the degrading- removal of his dress, and the blows which he received wei-e of no excessive severity. \ "At this juncture 1 my nephew consulted me as to reporting to the general this illegal proceeding for a military offence, but I recommended him to hold his tongue, fearing he might lose popularity by protesting against .customs which were, apparently, traditional in this, extraordinary, regiment. He came before the general, hoping that he would modify Colonel Kinloch's excitement for so inadequate a cause. General Trotter, on the contrary, upheld Colonel Kinloch's visv,-, reprimanded my nephew, and deprived him of his post of acting district signalling officer. He, therefore, returned to liity. " Shortly afterwards my nephew and two of the other subalterns were brought before the senior subaltern, who told them that unless they - rode with the brifeade drag at Windsor they would be flagged, and they ordered them to tell the other, subalterns. ' . " Living thus under a reign of terror, tex* ror raoro of degradation and dishonour than of physical suftering, intense though it was, the subalterns resolved to complain against tliis treatment. Meeting At the house of one of ■ their comrades, they begged his father, a retired general, to give them tha benefit of his advice as to whether they would be permitted by the rules of the service to appeal for protection to the Com-mandeifcin-Chief. .He drewvup> for them a paper, yhich he judged from his experience to be justified under such very exceptional circumstances. This 4 paper- was to be sent through the colonel, -but b&fore this could be done, information of it was given, to the colonel, and he pronounced, it to be mutiny. " After a' while, Colonei Kinloch addressed the subalterns, and finally said the matter was . closed, excepting as regarded my nephew, who/ he said t tad made serious

statements against him, meaning thereby that my nephew had mentioned the words used by the colonel — that he would hand him over to the senior subaltern, thus caus* ing his trial and flogging. "My nephew having the evening before this trial written to a friend these words used, which letter can be produced, and. having, moreover, given his family the same version, besides his own distinct recollection, of the ia.it, adhered at first to this statement, which was in fact the plain truth ; but after considerable pressure -from the colonel, and in view of his absolute denial, with the additional denial of his adjutant, he adopted the advice <rf a military friend, a major in the Army, to accept the colonel's denial, and to say that he miiit have been mistaken. " This he did in the belief that he was enabling the colonel to withdraw from a very embarrassing position, and that the affair would then close. however, was taken of this by^ Colonel Bicardo to accuse my nephew of ''telling barefaced lies, and of inciting his brother ensigns to mutiny.' Colonel Ricardo sent for him, and told him he would have to leave the regiment. LORD ROBERTA'S REPRIMAND. " CoLonel Ricardo also wrote the same to another of my nephew's relatives, who immediately- brought the case before Lord Roberts, and. demanded protection for an innocent officer, who was to> be turned out of the regiment in order to teach the subalterns the futility of protesting against this traditional system of subalterns' courtsmartial and flogging. ■ " Lord Roberts severely reprimanded Colonel Ricardo, placed Colonel Kinloch on half-pay, and said that he had told General Oliphant that ' he would look to him to see that the young officers through whom, the flogging scandal was brought to his notice should be protected.' " The protection afforded by General Oliphant was of a 'very singular .nature. On Jan. 16 my nephew, when acting as picket officer, filled up the daily picket report according to a method stated by an expert in military law to be quite justifiable. ■ | " For doing this, Lieutenant-Colonel St ■ Aubyri placed him under close arrest, and, together with Colonel Ricardo and> General j Oliphant, reported him to the Commander-in-Chief as 'guilty of a military crime, recommending that he should be given tho option of leaving the regiment or of being tried by court-martial. Appealed to on the subject. I told him 1o s&kct court-martial, but, for reasons best known to General Oil- , pliant and the colonels, this course which they had threatened Was abandoned by them. " Tho sentence, howerer, pronounced by General Oliphant on my nephew, after taking count, we must presume, of the fourteen, days' arrest, including eleven days' close arrest^ without being allowed to speak to or gee any one, was as follows : — Severe reprimands. Deprivation of leave for six months. His conduct to be reported on constantly to the general by his commanding officer. TYPICAL CASES. " The offence, with which my nephew was charged is held, as I said above, by an expert in military law to be quite justifiable. Colonel Daniel, who had been appointed by the. War Office as Lecturer in Military Law to the Royal Military College-, and iv : hohad hold the appointment of D.A.A.G. for List ruction at Aldershot, has given in writing the : following opinion : — ' An officer is quite justified in completing his report of ordinary daily duties in, advance provided always that he does nothing wilfully to place ■himself in iuch a position that he cannot perform thq duties entered in his report.' If ; then, an officer who was actually selected aS Instructor of Military Law holds; such an opinion, is it even logical that a youn.s lieutenant of less than two years' service should be punished with this extra-^ ordinary severity for holding the same opinion ? " After this second attempt by Colonel Ricardo and Colonel St Aubyn to effect the ruin of rrry nephew and to oblige him. *by thronts to l-pnv-3 the regiment, I came to the conclusion that my nephew's honour was no longer safe in their hands. An appeal which "i made to the Commnnder-in- Chief for the revison of General OHphant's sonteincs was unsuccessful, and my nephew therefore resigned his commission last Friday. "Perhaps, in conclusion, I might quote two typical cares in whiqh punishments have '&een inflicted by these subalterns' courts-martial:— One officer left Wellington Barracks in his undress -uniform to jrob his hair cut. To have, ono's hair cutwhila wearing uniform of any kind is considered to ba a breach of regimental etiquette, exeunt when an oflicer is actually on duty. Therefore, the officer so offending was flogged. Another, officer was flogged for omitting to attend a regimental court-mar-tini. "Wkh regard to Colonel Kinloch's responsibility, I should like to say that, a* his adjutant is himself a subaltern, and- is thus in touch with the. members of $ these subalterns' courts-martial and in constant communication with his colonel, these courts-martial and their proceedings could scarcely have existed witiiout his knowledge and tacit consent."