The Press. Tuesday, April, 10, 1917. " For All Prisoners and Captives."

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15871, 10 April 1917, Page 6

The Press. Tuesday, April, 10, 1917. " For All Prisoners and Captives."

Some interesting particulars regarding the flumbers of British prisoners in enemy countries and their treatment (rare given by Lord Newton, speaking on behalf of the Government in a debate which took place in the House of Lords towards the end of February. The noble Lord stated' that in Austria there were about 200 ihtemed British civilians and two or three British officers as Military prisoners. In Belgium there were no British civilian 'prisoners, and the number of military prisoners was thought to be 500 or 600. In Turkey, so far as the Government knew,' thero were about 700 interned civilians and about 2000 British and . BSOO Indian military officers and men, according to the 'figures supplied by the Turkish military authorities, which ho feared it was impossible to look upon as accurate, for they did not account for a large number of missing men. Roughly speaking, thero wero 4500 British civilians interned in Germany, and probably 34,000 o r 35,000 military prisoners. In regard to tho question of exchanges, Lord Newton said we had an arrangement- with Austria by which civilians over the age of 51 years should be repatriated, but very few exchanges had taken place and much progress ,was unlikely in view of the preposterous proposal made by the Austrian Government that in return for tlie 200 British who were interned in Austria we should release between 11,000 and 12,000 Austrians and Hun-

garians interned in the United Kingdom or in the colonies. In all other respects tho conduct of the. Austrian Government in regard to prisoners had been a complete contrast to that of the Germans, and British subjects had been treated with great, consideration in Austria and Hungary. As to our prisoners of war in Turkey the Government were about to make a far-reaching proposal of exchange which would a/Fect, ho- hoped, at least 20 pe r cent, of tho present number there. Tho only agreement of importance with Germany relating to civilians was one for the exchange of such civilians over 45 years of age. Lord Newton gave reasons for his belief that the conditions in the Ruhleben camp had improved of late, and said the civilians there were not undergoing such hardships as those being endured by our military prisoners in Germany. He intimated that ho was himself strongly in favour some timo ago of an exchange of civilians, irrespective of inequality in tho numbers exchanged, but with tho

lapse of time, doubts had entered his mind as to the desirability or practibility of such a course, which he indicated was opposed by tho naval and military authorities. It was a question of exchanging 4000 or 5000 British subjects for 36,000 Germans (including those in the Colonies), and even if the German Government undertook that nono of tho civilians who might be exchanged would bo employed in military operations, to send 20,000 or 30,000 such men over to Germany would release a corresponding number of men already thero for military operations. There wero also almost insuperable difficulties in the way of transport at the present time. Tho Germans, in pursuance of tho policy of cold-blooded ferocity which had characterised them throughout tho war, were just as ready to sink their own wounded as they were to sink ours, and the result was that ye were totally unable even to exchange permanently incapacitatcd military prisoners. His firm conviction wa s that the German Government cared little for their own interned people, and were interested only in the fate of a few highly-placed personages who were in our hands.

In the debate that followed Admiral Lord Beresford declared that tho hard

lot of the prisoners at Ruhleben could not be exaggerated. Persons who had been there had seen somo prisoners gradually becoming idiotic, and somo absolutely starved. There were many reasons why tho 26,000 Germans interned in the United Kingdom should bo exchanged for tho 4000 British prisoners in Germany. it was desirable to got rid of tbeso Germans, and there might be difficulty in doing so after tho war. The demand of Germany that tho 10,000 German prisoners in the Dominions should be included in that exchange made a great difference, and of that ho had not heard previously. Tho Archbishop of Canterbury also thought an exchange should be effected, notwithstanding the disparity in numbers. Lord Newton, in reply, again had to emphasise tho difficulty of dealing with an utterly reckless and unscrupulous Power like Germany. Wo Used to send totally incapacitated men back to Germany in

hospital ships, and proposed to send 300 such men a few weeks before tho debate, but the German Government's reply was that a hospital ship would

be sunk oven though the vessel had on board some of their own people. There is no dealing on anything approaching reasonable terms with a Government so utterly devoid of human feeling, so regardless of the opinion of civilised nations.