A MESSAGE OF HOPE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 86, 6 January 1919, Page 5

A MESSAGE OF HOPE

15,000 "MISSING, REPORTED DEAD" DISCOVERED , THE OFFICIAL SEARCH (Rec. January 5, 5.5 p.m.) ■ London, January 2. The discovery of fifteen thousand more British prisoners in Germany than the British records show assures the fact that a! large number of men who were, previously reported dead or missing will return home safe. The British expected to get twenty thousand prisoners out of Germany in a fortnight, but tlio German records show that thirty-five, thousand remain, -of whom fifteen thousand, through the failure of the Germans to report all captures or the men's failure to communicate with their friends, have been reported dead.—Reuter. AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT. (Rec. January 5, 5.5 p.m / ) London, January' 3. In view of inquiries from relatives of missing, men it is officially stated that a man is posted as missing only after the failure of all possible inquiries by tlic regimental and hospital officers. Returned'war prisoners are systematically examined regarding the fato of their comrade.?. There is no reliable evidence of the .existence of secret enemy prison camps. Inquiries are being made in the hospitals, and all the battlefields are being systematically searched. The British representative in Germany has been instructed to investigate the working camps, mines, asylums, etc., where prisoners might be found.. The enemy Governments are required to account for every.'British war prisoner. No case-ofj a prisoner's identity being untraceable through loss of' memory lias _ yet been found, bfit this possibility will bo kept in view. It is inevitablo that the fate of considerable numbers of men will never be known, but no step to trace them will bo omitted. , It is officially estimated that there were twentv-four thousand British war prisoners in' Germany on December 29, of whom five thousand had entrained and were proceeding to Holland; A further eight thousand are expected to reach Holland in a few days, and seven thousand are being repatriated this week via the Baltic ports, the remainder being transferred to a concentration camp at \\ ahn which is under British supervision.-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Reuter.