SLING CAMP

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10278, 13 May 1919, Page 6

SLING CAMP

LIGHT ON THE RECENT RIOT.

Press Association. AUCKLAND, May 12. Reference was made hy one of the officers who returned by the Northumberland to the disturbance at Sling Camp in March last. Ho stated that no Aucklanders were concerned in the riot, and that shortly before the trouble commenced the Auckland Battalion was removed to another camp on Lark Hill, about three miles away, because of the large number of men arriving at Sling. One of the chief causes of dissatisfaction among the men at Sling was that many soldiers who recently arrived from New Zealand, and had never been in Franco, were given preference over the men who had been on active service for a considerable time in the matter of returning to Now Zealand. A great deal of mismanagement had taken place in regard to tho embarkation of New Zealanders. Men were instructed to embark on a certain ship, and on tho evo of doing so were given fresh instructions. They were naturally greatly disappointed. A day or two later information was received by the officers of Lark Hill Camp that a visit might bo expected from some of the rioters at Sling. These men duly arrived, but tho Auckland men refused to have anything to do with them.