FOOD PARCELS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1943, Page 4

FOOD PARCELS

FOR PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMANY RESERVE STOCK BUILT UP. SUFFICIENT FOR TWELVE WEEKS. (By ’ Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. A report has been received by the Prisoners of War Inquiry Office to the effect that in August, at Geneva and in prisoner of war camps in Europe, there are twelve weeks’ reserve of food parcels, being more than two million in all. Generally speaking, camps had a reserve for two weeks, the International Red Cross holding the balance.. The stock is the outcome of many months of hard work and planning on the part of the International Red Cross and the Red Cross and St. John war organisational in England, assisted by the British Post Office and Ministry of War Transport. Headquarters in Wellington asks for copies of letters from Stalag XVIII A., Stalag 383, Oflag VII 8., and Stalag Luft VI. The office states, too, that it will assist other next of kin if copies of communications from persons in Ja-panese-held territory were forwarded to it. As an outcome of about 100 visits to working detachments in different parts of Germany it can be stated that the terms of the Geneva Convention are being observed in general, and that whenever there has arisen a rightful cause for complaint, there has always been honest goodwill to put things rights. When an employer applies to hire a prisoner of war, he must discuss conditions with the camp commandant. The living quarters offered are inspected‘and the necessary guard is secured. The prisoner is not left to himself, but the camp administration continues to keep an eye oh him, and if things do not run smoothly action is taken, either regarding the prisoner of war or against the employer. It has already happened that prisoners of war have been withdrawn by camp authorities from employers who did not treat them properly. The Inquiry Office has received advice to the effect that Stalag VC. is situated in Southern Germany, close to Cffenberg, near the French border, south of Strasbourg.