AN ARMY SCANDAL

Motueka Star, Volume IV, Issue 165, 20 March 1903, Page 4

AN ARMY SCANDAL

A despatch from London, dated 10th February, says:—Rear Admiral Basil Cochran had retired. In a letter published by the London "Times" to-day\ he makes astounding revelations regarding the "barbarous system" prevailing among the Guards regiments , for the punishment of subalterns who are found guilty of social or military offences. According to Admiral Cochran, the colonel of one battalion his been in the habit of handing overthe offending officers to the senior subaltern. The latter summonses a c m t-martial, at which the attend tnce of all subalterns is exacted, and the sentence is almost invariably flo"-ori n «_ This is administered on the bare back, and from six to forty blows are given with a cane, with such severity that a lower number is sufficient to draw blood. All the officers present, even the most intimate friends of the victim, are compelled to ad minster their share of blows.

The Admiral cites an instance of a young officer who fainted after receiving forty strokes, and also refers to the case • f his own nephew, who is not named, but who clearly is Captain Levison-Gowery who for an unintentional, military fault was tried and Hogged. Subsequently, according to Admiral Cochran, his nephew was punished with great severity by MajorGeneral Oliphant (formerly commander of the Grenadier Guards) for a petty fault, and in consequence of continued ill-treatment resigned his commission. Last week, when Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief, was informed of these occurrences, through relatives, he severely reprimanded Colonel Ricardo, commander of the Grenadier Guards, and placed Lieutenant-Colonel Kinloch, of the same regiment, on half pay.. That such a ie vol ting custom could prevail among officers and gentlemen, or could be submitted to by full grown men, has -caused a very great sensation here. The whole subject will be fully in Parliament. The letter of Rear-Admiral Cochran is being republished throughout the press, and has created intense indignation. Demands are made for a "full inquiry into the cases referred to, and for suppression of such disgraceful practices, which are held to operate powerfully in the direction of the exclusion of a class of officers which the country needs, and which it so rarely gets.