§ Lord ROBERT CECILI beg to ask the Prime Minister a question of which I have given him private notice: Whether the Government are aware that the 39 British officers selected by the German Government for retaliatory treatment were up to the 18th of April subjected to solitary confinement and other bad treatment, and what steps the Government have taken to bring home to the German authorities their determination to exact reparation at the end of the War from those who are responsible for such conduct?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)The American Ambassador at Berlin inspected on the 27th April the conditions of imprisonment of twenty-two of the thirty-nine British officers who have been subjected to differential treatment, and his report has been published. The Government have no official information as to the treatment of these officers previous to that date. Ono or two private letters have been shown to us which show that, in the first days of their imprisonment, some of the officers were kept in solitary confinement and on prison fare. In reply to the last part of the question, for the moment we can only repeat the public declaration which I made in the House on the 27th ultimo.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILAs this question cannot be adequately dealt with by question and answer, I give notice that I propose to raise it on the Motion for the Adjournment of the House.