WITH OUR PRISONERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 225, 10 November 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

WITH OUR PRISONERS.

LIFE AT MURREN. ALPINE LUXURA. A SUGGESTION. By LORD NORTHCLIFFE.

Muerren, Swit?erlancl. The topsy-turvydonis of war are, many. Just after the Battle of J'he Maru? I witnessed the curious spectacle of a number of slightly wounded Iblrawny Highlanders exchanging remarks with tho passers-by from the windows of one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, the Bristol, at the corner of the Place Vendomo, in Paris, long the resort of Kings and others of high degree.

To-day, here at Murren, : n the mos« beautiful spot in all Switzerland. I am watching two British blucjael.ets looking through a telescope at a distant oyria in which a couple of young eaglets can be plainly seen, the greet parent birds wheeling and swooping like a pair of more graceful aeroplanes. The bluejackets, with between four and five hundred officers and men of hi< .Majesty's Army, are prisoners of wa 1 interned here, and interned, I ma> say ,in the very lap of luxury Accompanied by Colonial Picot, e.Military Attache to our Legation i-.< Switzerland, we set out early morning on one of the most delightful motor rides imaginable ,through ths Bernese Oborland, by Thun, its towering sell loss and emerald lake, to Lais terbrunnen. Tyrol itself affords no greater delights to the eye. All s German, of course; the inns (Gasthauser), zum Lowen. Adler, and the likes, and the motor signs "Achtung!" (Ca<u« tion) and the very necessary "Aehtst nuf die Kinder' (Look out for tin; children') -for the roads svarm with flaxen-headed tots. THE FRENCH ANGLERH Here and there are the unexpected contrasts of French poilus in their ble i d'horizon, fishing, flirting, strolling ,n groups or cycling, but generally fishing, and with greater result than m the Seine or the lac in the Bois ck Boulogne, for they hold up to us great trout, pike, and "chevaliers" —the last a fish new to me. These aro th? French interned prisoners in Switzerland. Cnlike our men, who are fit present chiefly at two centres. Chateau d'CKx and Murren, the Flench arc scattered in little companies thrortgnout the Oborland. There are one-eyed, one-legged, and one-armed men, hut tliev iizivr all escaped th'.i Horror. The interned Germans are far away, in the F.ngadino. Presently wo come to Intorlaken, and soon at w> thk« i>> steep mountain railway up + i this .Ic-le.-tal'lo aseniblage of hotels and chalets, in which our soldiers, urofton in the war are being rapidly restored ro health bv the healing air and sunshi le of ,!„,;. liiL-her Alps. Colonel Xi-h received us a* the little and in a few minutes we are in the rui.Kt of as <?roat a war c-ont.-ast ~s can In- imagined. \\ cvervore knows Murren, but i-,„'. (!■., ■ who have not that pie-sure . l.jllV-r' that it is on a little plateau immediatelv fa-ins what many peemle v ,-„rnrd a> the most beautiful mountain inlh.rone. the Juneau. Within vvw are tha Wetterhorn ,the T '!r-- '•' W b.

IN THE BEST HOTELS. By an arrangement with the Swiss Government, who have behafc'od as kindly to our poor men as have the Swi.ss people themselves —which is saying a great deal—the soldiers wno were taken at Mops and at Le Cateau, at Loos, and some even more recently are housed in the very best mountain hotels and chalets in Switzerland. The men only arrived at Murren last week and have not yet settled down to freedom. Many of them still wear the strange look noticeable in those win have got out of Germany. Numbers can hardly yet realise that they are free, and more than one remarked th it when he awoko in the morning in his comfortable bedroom 'and seized out upon the brilliant sunshine on the snowy expanses opposite he feared it was. but a dream.

For the whole of the general arrangements we have to thank Colonel Hauser, the Swiss Principal Medievi Officer. Murren and its region is in charge of a young Swi.ss medical officrc, Captain Llopart. Our prisoner', of course, arc under Swiss discipline, and our officers and non-commissioned officers oniy hold their rank by ,:onrtesy of the Swiss authorities Se far this extremely delicate arrangement has worked admirably. Colonel Neish, who looks and says lie feels like a boy out of school after his long imprisonment, escorted me at once to the Swi.ss officer in command, and we then made an inspection of the village. Inasmuch as most of the hotels and chalets have been built for winter sports visitors from England they are quite new. And if there be any mor > sumptuously housed privates in th 1 British Army in any other part of the world I should be greatly surprised. WITTENBERG TO KDELWEISS. A man from hateful Wittenberg wa' lying in a decE-chair on tne sunny verandah outside his bedroom, to which was attached the very latest type >i private bath-room. There was a bowl of roses and edelweiss find a box of Woodbines by his side. He was getting stronger, he *aid, as ho stood to attention .and saluted Colonel Neish and Captain Llopart. By his bedside 1 noticed a photograph of his wife and children at home, and he had abundance o£ books and English newspapers.

His surroundings are typical of all those at Murren. Nothing can be toj good for our soldiers, and at Murren and also at Chateau d'CEx, r' which 1 obtained full accounts from English visitors, the best that modern luxo can give is given them. Flowers, sleep, sunshine, and happiness <ire everywhere.

The officers are housed separately, as are, of course, the non-commissioned officers. All the hotels are on the same scale of comfort and there is therefore no difference of treatment. At Chateau d'fFx work i.i in fu'l swing, and the little colony at Murren is already settling down into some form of discipline. visits of wrvrs. To help the men to get well, English. French, and Swiss visitors come to amuse them, and those oU'.cers an 1 men who are fit enough are help.ng with concerts, theatricals, and dances. Colonel Neish told me that much is due to Mr. Lunn, who, twice rejected for military service at home, is doing good work' in bringing peace of mind and body to the lately Released captives.

Up till now, at Murren the novel 'y of the varying aspect of the Alps ,s almost sufficient entertainment. Perhaps not half-o-dozen of the men have ever been in real mountains before, and they are much surprised when told of the great distances separating them from points which in this clear atmosphere seem but a few miles away. The 7 spend much of their time peering through glasses and tetescopes at the glaciers and peaks. The blood-red sunset effect on the Jungfrau, famous throughout the world, has amazed them.

The officers ara hoping, when the*' get well enough, to bag a chamois or two. The eyrie of the eagles to which I have refeired is as grveat a pleasure to the local mountaineers as to our men, for they say that eagles long agj disappeared from this part of Switzerland. They look upon thvir return as a lucky omen. It is attributed by some among them to the Italian-Aus-trian bombardment of the Dolomite',, but I am not learned in eagle lore ami merely give this statement for what it is worth. Has the Murren rose a thorn? FOl some of the men it has. Some 17 pet cent, of them are married. The wive* of some of the interned officers have already come out to stoy with their husbands. The French soldiers have their wives with them. It is pcrhaos too much to expect that the Canadians, of whom there are a numbet, should be able to transport their wives from the other side of the Atlantic. But the words, " I want to look wpo.i my wife's face again," very solemn v spoken by one of the Old Army, one of the heroes of Moms, were echoed in every hotel and chalet 1 inspected.

The cost of bringing out tiic wives on a visit is but £l2 each. Dare I suggest that if Mr. Lloyd George and the Treasury do not see their way to a very trifling precedent, the British Red Cross Society should satisfy the earnest wish of those who in the naticnal catt*' have l>oen through the hell of the trenches and the bottomless pit of th* German prison camps?