§ 5. Mr. HUME-WILLIAMSasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can state with whom it rests to determine which individual wounded prisoners shall be sent to Switzerland from Great Britain and from Germany, respectively; whether Switzerland has given any and what number as the maximum of such wounded prisoners which she is prepared to receive; if not, why a larger number is not sent; and whether each batch is the subject of separate negotiations, or whether they are sent at stated intervals and in agreed numbers?
§ Lord R. CECILThe arrangements for the transfer to Switzerland of British and German wounded and sick prisoners of war are described in White Paper, Miscellaneous, No. 17 (1916). I would explain with regard to Paper No. 8 in that White Paper that in the case of France and Germany, the country holding the prisoners has a majority of members on the final board and that, consequently this is the case in the United Kingdom; Switzerland has fixed no maximum number of prisoners to 1198 be accepted; time is required to examine the prisoners who are scattered about all over Germany, but we understand that 764 British prisoners are to arrive in Switzerland on the 11th instant. We are proposing that the Swiss Medical Commissions shall visit this country and Germany every quarter.