§ 87. Mr. R. McNEILLasked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he is aware that Mr. Hanson, who has returned to England after eleven months of internment in Germany, asserts that not more than 3½ ounces of meat and ½ pound of bread, composed of a mixture of inferior rye, potatoes, and straw, together with coarse vegetable roots such as are usually fed to cattle, form the daily allowance of civilian prisoners in Germany, and that the conditions of military prisoners are even worse; whether his attention has been called to Mr. Hanson's statement that he has frequently heard Mr. Gerard tell starving British prisoners that they 920 have their own Government to thank for their sufferings; and whether the Government have received any suggestions from Mr. Gerard as to measures that might be taken to secure better treatment for British prisoners in Germany?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord R. Cecil)No, Sir, except by my hon. Friend's question, these statements do not appear to have been brought to our notice. I may say that we quite recently asked the United States Ambassador to inquire as to the quantity and quality of the food at present being supplied at Ruhleben. With regard to the third part of the question, no specific suggestions have been received such as are there referred to, but, as the House has been informed on several occasions, the United States Ambassador at Berlin has been indefatigable in his efforts to improve the conditions obtaining in the prisoners' camps in Germany, and we are most grateful to His Excellency for what he has done.
§ Mr. McNEILLMay I ask my Noble Friend whether the information given by Mr. Hanson entirely contradicts the information recently given by the Under-Secretary of State for War, and whether he is in a position to say which is the more likely to be correct?
§ Lord R. CECILI do not quite know to what answer my hon. Friend refers; but I should have thought that the statement in the question was a great exaggeration of the state of things in the camp.
§ Mr. McNEILLDoes my Noble Friend realise that it comes from a gentleman who says that he speaks from personal experience?
§ Lord R. CECILI should not like to say that such things never occur in the camps, but our information, generally speaking, has been that, although the food is insufficient, it is not so bad as here described.