THE PORTSMOUTH MUTINY.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8052, 8 November 1906, Page 3

THE PORTSMOUTH MUTINY.

CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE. THE MEN EXONERATED. LONDON, November (). Details which are now to hand explain the immediate occasion of the Portsmouth mutiny, and explain the fact that even after the most sensational outbreak since that of the Grenadier Guards some 14 years ago, the men received a virtual recognition that their action was excusable. The trouble began in the conduct of an officer who kept the men on parade for an unnecessarily long period during a deluging rainstorm, with the consequence that at hist they bolted to shelter without awaiting dismissal. The officer then ordered them to parade in the gymnasium. Hearing insulting remarks from the stokers, he next directed the front rank to kneel, in ordei to see the real - ranks, but the men refused. When the order was repeated they all knelt except two. one of whom declared that he would bend the knee to God alone. After their attempt to quit the banacks had been frustrated. Commodore Stopford released the arrested stokers after inquiry, and announced that the matter had been dropped. DEALING WITH THE MUTINEERS. THE MEN'S COMPLAINTS. LONDON, November 7. Nearly nine hundred stokers in the barracks were concerned in the recent disturbances. Four hundred have been drafted into ships, and thirty of the ringleaders are in custody. The men on leave complain that they were locked out without lodgings, and declare that the demonstrations outside were merely a demand for admission. Portsmouth is quiet. jfcThe stokers state that the lieutenant who ordered them 011 to their knees was unpopular. He had already lost half a year's seniority. The men complain that the executive officers treated them as boys.