THE ETAPLES RIOTS.

Otaki Mail, 22 March 1922, Page 1

THE ETAPLES RIOTS.

AUSTRALIANS RAID POLICE. LADY FORBES' NARRATIVE. New Zealand soldiers who served in France will be interested to read the I following account, by Lady Angela ■ I Forbes, of the riot that occurred in j I Etaples during 1917. Etaples was then | I the main New Zealand reinforcement | camp. | Trouble over the military police had 1 been simmering for some time before | the great rit occurred in the camp at a Etaples, which had among its minor re- | suits first the hampering and then the jj ending of the work of the British sol- 1 diers' buffets (writes Lady Angela). | The manners of the police in Etaples g had offered a great contrast to those of | their comrades iti Boulogne and Abbe- § ville. The Australians especially re- 1 sented the methods of the red caps, 4.1 which were most unsuited to them; for | with all their reputation for lack of 1 discipline, I found the Australians sin- | gularly amenable—they were extraor- § dinarily like naughty children, and far 1 more mischievous than wicked. \ The trouble began iu this way. Just | outside my hut there was a bridge which marked the out-of-bounds limit for the camp. An Australian was talking to a girl at a few minutes past the hour when all men were to be in camp. I j The policeman started hectoring the I f Australian, whose contention was thai | as he was on the bridge he was break- 1 ing no rule. .The policeman continued « his bullying attitude, with the net re i suit that, the Australian was locked up A tactful word and the finale would have been very different. As it was, ..the next day a party oi | Australians deo.atd to raid tho poLe< % station. It was .".bout 5 in the aft. r \ noon. My hut was full to overflown;;, when a shot was heard. The hut was I suddenly emptied. I ran out to s.-. | what had happened, and found myseil | being swept down the hill to the nev. | siding in the midst of an angry mi ';• 1 It was nothing less than a man hum j that I was indulging in! | When the Australians attacked tin 1 police hut the policeman had fired. Hi: shot had gone home, and a galla i | Scotsman lay dead. The effect on at. 1 angry mob can be imagined. The po i liceman had meanwhile escap n £ through the back of the hut, and vv.ii | ' making his way to -belter and the Si . | • tion. j I With quite amazing promptitodi L, Colonel Nasan (O.C. Kcinforcemem. || and Major Skirrow reached the station ,| ' by a short cut from the reinforcement 1§ 3 office. These two held the station-mas- | g ter's office, where the policeman had j f found sanctuary, against a crowd of | \ some thousands. The natural re.»pi | for an officer held that mob oi 1>; ■ They were unarmed, ami if the mi;-- | had not paused voluntarily they won' 1 '. 3 have been powerless. It wa.< really n; impressive sight an a personal n - - umph. After a few words from Colon'-' , Nasan, in almost ;ls shor.t a rime as i: takes me to write, the mob were wend i ing their way back to the camp. Bi.i "> the spirit of the men was not altered and it was obvious that there would i ; rioting. Not a red cap dared show h face. To his credit, be it said, tl >■ . commandant rode through the camp. l eapless in the scrimmage, but otherwise 3 unhurt. That night the workers refused t j , do night duty at my hut on the nev, .• , siding, so Barbara Powell and I, thong j - J we had had a long day of it, had to rei I main alone. We had a perfectly peac • . > ful night, and I think next morning some of the others were a little asham- ] ed of their attack of nerves. Next day the rioting continued, and it was rumoured that the Australian? » had got their own back. I was advised to shut the canteen, but this I refused ! : to do, and I did not regret it. Most oi i • the other huts were closed, and came ir for some of the rioting, but though wc " ' were crowded out there was not a pan--1 of glass broksa. The men did not want us to close at i the regulation hour, but were perfectly J - reasonable when I told them that I had 3 * had thirty-six hours without sleep. A jj • self-constituted bodyguard of Austral- | I I ians insisted on eseortjng me out of the 3 - ! camp, and I drove my ear through the jj ', town at a snail's pace, with thousands jj - , of men all giving three cheers for An- j i, gelina! ! :, General Asser had meanwhile arrived j on the scene. He made a tour of :'ii I a the depots and investigated the rnei: "s i_ 1 grievances. Some of the diseijjiinary j i- rules were relaxed and various harm- j ) less concessions granted. j .. h i: