At Ruhieben

Levin Daily Chronicle, 10 March 1917, Page 3

At Ruhieben

$ - T B KTTER. CAM P- CON DIT lONS

THANKS TO BRITISH EFFORTS,

London, January 15

Nmo repatriated prisoners from lluhklbm Uaiup. Germany, si x of wliom are over o5 years of age, arrived at Gravesend from Fluslinig on Saturday evening.

Six of them had been interned (since the beginning of the war. Their opinion is that during the last eighteen months condicons at Ruhieben have greatly iinprdved, mainly on account of the expression of neutral opinion and the arrival of food from Great Britain. A "food controller" rations the camp. Each man gets a slice of corned beef once a day— the meat coming from England—and thus he has no longer to hunt for pieces of meat in the so-called soup served out by the Germans. Bread, flour, cereals and preserved vegetables are other items from England that go to supplement the menu.

The demeanour of the camp guards has undergone a great change. At first they were strict and liigh-lianded in carrying out their duties, with no inclination to be even courteous. Now all are men returned from one or other of the fronts. They have learned there that Germany cannot win the war, and this knowoldge, coupled with the pinch of hunger, has robtud them of much of their arrogance. All they long for is peace, and the sooner it comes the more, they think, Germany will save from the wieckage.