A FORTUNATE ESCAPE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2548, 24 August 1915, Page 3

A FORTUNATE ESCAPE

a FROM THE GERMANS. - 'An altogeth'er novel anniversary was celebrated yesterday at noon, when the members of the Wellington. Commercial Travellers' Association foregathered" at . the Commercial- Travellers' Club; to celebrate .the anniversary,- of Mr. M.; A. Pitt's escape from Germany, exactly V Iwdve • months ' ago ' yesterday. It' may that Mr. Carr was travelling in Germany; when the war,-broke'-out, and thougli' he did his bestifo get away, from the country, he was detained a prisoner under insufferably ' squalid; conditions for nearly three weeks at a place called Bentheim, before he was re-, . leased "through the agency of,the American Consul at The Hague, : and by misrepresenting his age to the, German authorities. .. •' Mr. F. W. Manton, vice-president of the association, presided, and after the usual loyal toast had been honoured,-he woposed the health of Mr. Carr, congratulating him -in the heartiest terms on his: fortunate release. - Congratulatory speeches ' were . also made by various members, some of whom mentioned comparatively the treatment accorded to 'Englishmen in, Germany, with the bene- ■' ficent treatment meted out:to, Germans, tome in high positions, in 'New; Zealand, arid who were able/ to continue earning .their livings, in ' some cases at tho ex- : pense of the. State, despite.-their-nation-'. ality.. "■ :\ . • Tho toast of the "Int-erned Prisoners -Germany" was also honoured with enthusiasm,-, and the whole; proceeding concluded with the singing of "Rule Britannia." ' .