BACK FROM GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1917, Page 7

BACK FROM GERMANY.

INTERNED MEW ZEALANDEB. A former resident of Wunganui, Mr. Charles J. King, who has been a prisoner in Germany since the war broke out, having been interned on the morning England declared war, is now back in England. In a letter to a friend he writes:—"The feeling against us was very strong, and the hatred against us was, and still is, tremendous. They are the worst people on earth, and it is hard for one who has not lived amongst them to realise how they feel towards us, and what they would be capable of doing with us. If ever they came out on top I can assure you that they would not stop at anything short of absolute imnihilation of the British nation. They will tell you this quite openly, and there , is no doubt whatever that they metai to do it if they can. "Bacing was booming in Germany, and would have been better still only for the war. Stakes werj very good, o.nd all jockeys were getting big retainers, and out of half-a-dozen horsemen that I knew, not one was getting less than £2OOO a year, and with two or three years' engagement at that. In addition there were, of course, riding fce3 and 'percentage, but the wan upset all this, and as ,soon as it broke out the Germans broke, up all their contracts, and in most cases would not even piy men what they had already earned. There was a surprising number of Australians and New Zealanders in the prison camp, considering how far away we live. , There were about (K) Australians and a dozen New Zcahinders. most of .the latter being men who had left New Zealand years ago, and one or two who had come to study music, etc. The Australians were mostly students."