It is difficult, after reading the evidence, to doubt that
it was desirable that the officer concerned should find some sphere for his activities other than that of his Majesty's Army. What are we to say, however, of the worldly wisdom of a Colonel, admittedly a most able commanding officer, who, instead of using the proper and legitimate machinery for getting rid of an officer unlikely to prove satisfactory, used language which, though doubtless not meant to encourage, was in effect sure to encourage the subalterns of the regiment to take matters into their own hands, to the scandal and injury of the battalion, and, indeed, of the whole Brigade ? We take no exaggerated view of the heinousness of " ragging " ; but if " ragging " is to be tolerated, it seems to us that it should be conducted on an equitable basis. Would it not be possible to maintain the principle of one culprit one " ragger," and to have one subaltern told off by his colleagues to do the disciplinary work ? Whatever the merits, there is something revolting in the idea of five men setting upon one, even when their inten- tion is to bully him into good habits. We are no friends of "peaceful persuasion" by a mob, whether of officers or of Trade-Unionists.
Previous page
