RESCUED.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 20 February 1917, Page 2

RESCUED.

FROM GERMAN CLUTCHES. AUSTRALIAN MISSIONARIES. EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN. t Miss K. Miller, a Church of Eng-, land Missionary, who was for two years interned by the Germans in German East Africa, arrived in Australia last week. Miss Miller was one of 15 members of the Church Missionary Society of Australia who underwent the very trying- experience of two years' internment in German East Africa, During their long detention the party was shifted about from place to place, as the exigencies of the campaign and the successes of the British arms dictated. For a considerable portion of the time they were stationed at Tabora, a town perched 6000 feet above sea. level. The cold there~was intense

and the missionaries were not too warmly clothed. Each had his or her daily task to do, that of the ladies consisting of the knitting of socks and woollen clothes for the Germans. Throughout the whole period of their internment the missionaries were treated with scant courtesy, being roughly spoken to and subjectec to rigorous supervision by black soldiers. They lived behind barbed wire, and whenever they were permitted to exercise out of the enclosure they were accompanied by native armed guards. A medical member of the staff was given three days' solitary confinement for supplying an Italian with a piece of coal with which to make a fire, and his rations during solitary confinement consisted of bread and water only. The party found the lack of the commonest pos tal facilities a severe hardship, all of their own correspondence was returned to them, and no correspondence from Australia was permitted to reach their hands. The party was finally rescued from its unhappy plight as the direct result of the the Allied arms. On the morning of the rescue, the I British and Belgian troops approached the town from either side. The Germans decided not to defend the place, and in this connection they exhibited

a curious preference that reveals the crue Teutonic conception of British i civilisation and humanity. On tne side of the town that the Belgians approached the Germans massed in force, leaving the side on which the British troops were approaching en tirely unprotected. Thus the British marched in unopposed, taking possession without firing a shot, and the joyful prisoners were released from their long and wearisome captivity. In connection with the preference above mentioned, it should also be mentioned that there was a bitterness between the Germans and the Belgians, arising out of differences in connection with the Congo. After their release the prisoners had a fourteen days' march to L.:.k; Nyanza. The route lay along many of the fields of the previous balfi. between the contending forces, and the party saw many gruesome sights. The whole of the party reached tin. hospitable arms of friends in fai I , good health in spite of the harsh re strictions imposed by their German gaolers and the limited food supply. The strain of captivity, with its everI present spectre of worse privations, was great, and one or two of the missionaries will not recover completely for a long time. The prospects of missionary work in the captured territory are reported to be very encouraging, and the openings are many and varied. Miss Miller proposes to return to her duties in •'ex-German" East Africa as scon as she is permitted to do so.