THE HAPPY HUNS AT ISLINGTON.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 144, 11 February 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE HAPPY HUNS AT ISLINGTON.

15s. A WEEK CHEF. In the Cornwaliis Camp at Islington life is proceeding very merrily, says a London paper. The Germans are practically tlie r own masters and arrange their daily round to their own liking through a committee oi democraticallyelected "captains. ' The camp 'o divided into ffiesses, each mess electing its own captain, and these form the committee, with one of their number elected chief capta n. The camp building was once the workhouse. In addition to the ordinary wards and dormitories, there are a number of small rooms let by the ca.pV.unri' c'jmmitUV, who take the money, at rents varying from 2s. (id. to 15s. a week, to the more wealthy Huns. The money thus obtained is expended by the committee in wages to the poorer prisoners who do general domestic duties such as scrubbing floors at 7d. per day, to the stokers and engineering staff, who are paid 4s. a week, and to others. The most highlypaid official of the committee is the camp cook, in pre-war days an eminent chef; he gets 15s. a week. The admin, istrat on of the "communal funds by tho committee is causing sonic heartburning, because the committee does not- issue a balance-sheet. Although the prisoners do not take in each other's washing, some hire themselves out as servants to the others, clean boots, make beds, mend clothes, and the like, all for a financial consideration. JO PRIVILEGED TO GO OUT. The prisoners are free at all times to walk or play in the spacious grounds. They established an open-air gymnasium under one of their number who was a physical culture expert. That gymnasium has been moved under cover, and boxing and wrestling have been added to the course of instruction. Game clubs have been organised, and they spend the dark evenings in playing cards, chess, draughts, and dominoes and arranging bridge and whist drives among themselves. They are treated with such consideration that a lawyer has been appointed to advise them on matters connected with their personal affairs, and if they can satisfy him that their businesses are still being conducted in a manner beneficial to the whole community they are permitted to leave the camp to give a few hours' personal supervision. About forty prisoners have this privilege Twice a week, generally on Wednesdays and Sundays, they have an orchestral concert, a really first-class band having been easily formed from the musicians interned. It is under the direction of Hcrr Otto Beyers, a conductor of some note on the London concert platform. A typical day's menu for the prisoners is": Breakfast —coffee, bread, and margarine; dinner —boiled beef, carrots. rice pudding; tea —tea, bread, and margarine; supper —bread and cocoa. The diet is varied very considerably, and boiled salmon has appeared on the menu. Each man is permitted to add to the diet as he pleases, and on tho average scores of parcels "of "delicatessen" arrive daily for them. At the canteen every conceivable thing with the exception of intoxicating liquor can be bought. The men have no hesitation in writing to their wives, many of whom are living in London on a Government allowance, asking for sausages and polonies to lie sent them. The wives are practically all of English birth.