THE MILITARY RIOT AT CANTERBURY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3640, 13 March 1883, Page 4

THE MILITARY RIOT AT CANTERBURY.

A serious riot took place on 24th December between the men of the Inniskillings and Buffs, quartered in Canterbury. It is stated that "nearly 200 men "were for an hour engaged in a fierce encounter with belts and bayonets. Many were injured, and one man in the Inniskillings had his head, laid open." Four men injured are now in the hospital, and the broken windows in the barrack .square afford further indications of the seriousness of the conflict, which was only quelled by an officer warning the men of the penalty'they incurred by reading the Articles of War.' The disturbance was stopped most opportunely, for at the time two organised bodies of cavalry men were on their way to the infantry square to assist the Inniskillings. The following account is given by a sergeant: —Some Inniskillings and Buffs, meeting in the infantry square, commenced an argument which terminated in a fiq-ht. Tho Buifs were reinforced by about 20 or 30 men, and the cavalry then turned out in force, numbering about 200. In a short time the square was full, and a fight took place, in which pokers, stones, and brickbats were freely used. The stair of the militia were at length sent to quell the disturbance, in which they succeeded. Two sergeants of the Bait's were somewhat severely injured, and several others more or less hurt. Considerable damage to windows was also occasioned, and the pickets at night were ordered to be doubled. Tho Court of Inquiry, after a long examination of witnesses, ordered that the Inniskillings should pay for the damage done in Barrack Square. Thewitnesscs denied the allegation that men belonging to other regiments were about to take a part in the disturbance when it was stopped. The rumoured death of Colour - Sergeant Smith and Sergeant Johnson, who received injuries while endeavouring to put a stop to the disorderly proceedings, is denied.