A Hundred Years’ Penalty.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 6, 7 August 1912, Page 16

A Hundred Years’ Penalty.

The *' Tr.m-v.i t! (■‘irmw-le*’ wmiris f . • — -i n y of tfl« 19th 1.-m-cr-*: —•‘Tt-e XII.. the Rtriul Lancer*, now s 11 ionol at I’oti-hefi-t roam, are lookin'? f irwar 1 i > the relief of a hunlrei years’ P'in - niert. intli ted on them in th- year ISI2. In that year, When the P' ira’ -’■l ir War " in progress in Spain, the Lancers broke into a nwna-tery uni mis!»eliiicl h< rn-elvc.'. When li hear 1 of it, th I) ke of Welbetitou was exe alingly He purriri tte n .aim nt on the first i.•il i' I ' .a f : - ■ : i i I years p.-s.a 11 J. •• i hi- a ilty is st'll carried out in Pol 1 :u ’a. It takes t form of ill me. playing. Every night, at till 0.1. k for li>o years*—so ran the Ihik.’s order—Hie Ivattd must parade and play live luirii tunes -a- a pu;r.~lnnent. Tiic-e are tlie spairsli National An un. tire Russian National Anthem, the Vesper Ilynnn, the Prime of Wale-'s Hymn, ai-.l the English Xitionil Antliun. Formerly eash man in the regiment wta-s require-.! to star i to attrition befeide his lied when tire penal hymns began, but this has now been .-'topiped. Having hca-r-t these airs every night for a hundred yesMs, it - believed that the regiment now knows them by heart.” Tire alvove account requires emendation. The 13th Inneers do not admit that they were guilt v of ttie offence which had to 'os expiated in the manner stated above. Indeed, they consider the punishment an u-rp st one. In regard to Wie form of piHiidiment, the ’'Transvaal Chronicle” t* slightly in error. The men were required t * sui’,l to a< .ion in whatever p’nee t'.-y might at the time, wliether'lw the r iots >r not. when the band plated the Ir. inmnss.