Mews from England

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 259, 12 April 1915, Page 5

Mews from England

INHUMANITY TO PRISONERS. .( AN INDICTMENT AGAINST GERMANY. British ill.treated and -, insulted. vigorous contrast given. Received AprilMl, 5.5 p.m. . k.' London, April 10. A White Paper has been issued dealng with the treatment of British prismas in Germany. It shows that 8.-I----ain. has constantly received proof _ of nhumanity, and protested to America. Hie-American Ambassador and consuls n Germany frequently reported ill-treat-nent, insufficient clothing and food, lareh restrictions, cruelty to sick and rounded, and the savagery of the guards. A Russian doctor reported in Decenv »r that British officers were treated rprse than others, and openly insultad. *A French priest saw the Germans kick ftitish in the stomach and break puis iver their backs. They were forced.to ileep in marshy places, and many beame consumptive. The British were rtmost starved. Thirty were so tortured hat thev asked to be Bhot. Major" Vandeleur, who escaped from Jrefcld, reported that fifty-seven officeis ind men were packed, foodless, into an mventilated horse waggon, in which ras three inches of manure. They were mable to sit, and they remained there Mrty hours. German officers and man >rutally assaulted and insulted them. the. journey to Cologne lasted three diys md nights, and they were given no food hroughout. The officers were treated Wrly well, said Major Crefeld, but the aldiers treated barbarously. They slept m sodden straw, which was unchanged "or months, and were forced to do all nenial and filthy work for other primers. Mr. Gerard, an American Ambassador, | •eported that British wounded at Doe>eritz needed medical attention and rx;ra food. They received daily merely wo cups of coffee and soup and onetod of a loaf. They had only one >lanket. The German Government refused Mr. Gerard's request for more ilothing. Other instances of brutality are given. 3ix civilians at Ruhleben were sleeping ji.a space 10J feet square. TwentyJnee officers near Magdeburg were herdj.i together, and gradually starving to death. Prisoners at Ulm were pieraturely aged. The above story contrasts with the report of Mr. Jackson, of the American Embassy at Berlin, who visited nine detention" prisons and ships in Britain, where the food supplied was the same is to British soldiers. The Germans' thief complaint was that there was t.-o much beef and little pork, white instead jf black bread, and insufficient frc3h regetables. Their health was good, and they were supplied with books and papers. The officers could purchase hoi breakfasts and three-course dinners, ard they purchased wines and delicacies.