Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1942. AN INADEQUATE PROPOSAL.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 May 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1942. AN INADEQUATE PROPOSAL.

QF all those upon whom the war has brought undeserved hardship and suffering, none have a better claim to sympathy, or to the expression of that sympathy in a practical way, than prisoners of war Of the members of our own fighting forces, some 6,000 are definitely known to be prisoners in.the hands of the enemy. A major proportion of these are members of the valiant brigades which won deathless fame in Greece and Crete. Others were captured in the course of some of the hardest fighting that has taken place in Libya and the total includes also some airmen, seamen and others. New Zealand should be very willing to do everything that is possible to soften the captivity of these men and to a considerable extent this obligation is being honoured, so far as international conventions and the conditions imposed by the enemy countries concerned will permit. Supplies of food, clothing, tobacco and other articles and a certain amount of material for sport and recreation are being forwarded to our Avar prisoners through the agency of the Red Cross. This is excellent as far as it goes, but there are some particulars in which what is now being done might be improved upon. A recent report by the New Zealand Prisoners of War Inquiry Office* mentioned, for instance, the matter of the provision of study and text books. On that subject the report stated Next of kin must produce a request from the prisoner. When satisfied of the merits of the case, the office will make necessary provision for sending books, provided they are obtainable. Where next of kin are not themselves in a position to purchase these books, it will be possible for the office to assist. . . . This is a rather lame, halting and uninspired approach to an enterprise on behalf of war prisoners which is worthy of being taken up in a very much more purposeful and helpful fashion. An indication of tvhat might be done for many of our own men now held in enemy prison camps appears in the news transmitted not long ago from Britain that British prisoners of war in Germany are working for honours degrees of London University. Tn all, at a recent date, 1,832 men were preparing in that way for their return to civil life. This unique educational departure (it is stated) has been made possible by a feat in organisation working from the New Bodleian Library, Oxford, where Miss Ethel Herdman, M.A., of the Red Cross Book Department, is arranging these and similar courses of study for British prisoners of war. In a long room lined with tables are the sections for each prison camp to which material for study is sent and from which letters have arrived asking for vocational, cultural or educational advice. Engineering is the most popular subject, then modern languages. Wireless is very popular, too, but books on it 'have been prohibited. In addition to the arrangements made for prisoners by London University to work for honours degrees, many trade and craft institutes are co-operating with Oxford. ... Instead of being prepared to deal in a narrowly limited fashion with requests received through next of kin, New Zealand surely should be ready to make generous provision for study by prisoners of war and to encourage them to engage in study. A firstclass means might thus be found, not only of relieving the tedium of captivity, but of conferring lasting benefits on the individual men concerned and on their country. The whole question of providing prisoners of war with facilities for either academic or vocational studies should be taken, up at once from a very much broader and more liberal standpoint than that adopted by: the Prisoners of War Inquiry Office in the report which has been quoted. The advice and co-operation of competent educationists in this country and overseas of course should be sought with a view to extending as speedily and 'as fully as possible to New Zealanders the facilities for study that, as has been shown, are enjoyed already by British prisoners of war.