THE PORTSMOUTH MUTINY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8779, 16 November 1906, Page 2

THE PORTSMOUTH MUTINY.

STOKERS TO BE COURTMARTIALLED.

United Press Association — By Electric Telegraph — Copyright. (Received November 16, 9.7 a.m.) LONDON, November 15.

Eleven %l the stokers concerned in thie recent mutiny at Portsmouth will be ; court-martialled. The lieutenant's order to kneel is also to be made the subject of a court inquiry.

(On November 6 stokers at the Naval Barracks, Portsmouth, resenting an order which they apparently misunderstood, attempted to quit the barracks and wreck the 'officers' apartments. The whole force was mobilised, and the guard fixed bayonets at the gate, preventing exit. The Commodore heard the grievances of the men, and pacified them, his tact terminating an ugly incident. The cause of the trouble was thus stated: — An officer kept the men on parade unnecessarily long during a deluging rainstorm. The men at last bolted to shelter without waiting for dismissal. The officer ordered a parade in the gymnasium, and, hearing insulting remarks from the stokers, directed the front rank to kneel in order to see the rear ranks. The men refused, but when the order was repeated they knelt, except two, one of whom declared that he would bend the knee to God alone.j ■ The stokers state that the lieutenant who ordered them on their knees is unpopular, and had already lost half a year's seniority. The' men complain of the "dead-«et" made against them by the executive officers, who treated them as boys. Nearly 900 stokers in barracks were concerned m the disturbances. Four hundred have been drafted into ships, and thirty, of the ringleaders were taken into custody. Men on leave complained that they were locked out without lodgings, and declare that the demonstrations outside were merely a demand for admission.)