BRITAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1916, Page 5

BRITAIN.

BACK FROM GERMANY. RETURN OP BRITISH PRISONERS. A REMARKABLE STORY Received Feb. S, 10.5 p.m. Loudon, I'cli. 8. A large party of wounded soldiers from Ciorman.v lias reached Tilbury. One related an astonishing story of (ierinan frightfulness. Two thousand Russian prisoners were taken to the firing line in France and forced to dip; trenches. They were cruelly underfed and worked days and nights in a famished condition, while many were killed and wounded by shell-fire. Finally they were smuggled back to Germany, suggesting that the Germans themselves were ashamed of the treatment. The Germans ordered other prisoners to build Zeppelin sheds, and those who refused were furnished with a year's hard labor.

Many civilians accompanied the wounded men, including married women with families, and a number of governesses who were expelled from Germany bv a recent order.

THE RECENT RAIDS. QUESTION OF PRECAUTIONS. Received Feb. 8, 10.15 p.m. London, Feb. 8. When Parliament reopens on Tuesday an amendment to the Address-in-Reply will be moved, emphasising the importance of precautions against air raids. It is expected the Government will face a.very critical House. FUNERALS OF THE VICTIMS. Received Feb. 8, 11.50 p.m. London, Feb. 8. There were impressive scenes at the funerals of the Zeppelin victims in Staffordshire.

LAND SETTLEMENT. SIR H. EIDER HAGGARD'S VIEWS. London, Feb. 7. Sir H. Rider Haggard, answering the criticisms that* ex-soldiers should be settled in England, points out that ten thousand will be the utmost that the British Government will endeavor to deal with, whereas there will be hundreds of thousands anxious to emigrate at the end of the war.