§ 23. Mr. BUTCHERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a circular, 9c, headed Postal Censorship, which prohibits persons in this country from sending money to civilian British prisoners in Holland released from Germany except by money orders, and which provides that before any money can be so sent the prisoner must obtain at his place of internment in Holland a certificate authorising such a remittance, and must send such certificate to the person desiring to send the money, and that such certificate must be produced at the post office when the sender applies for the money order; whether he is aware that owing to the delay, amounting to some three or four weeks, of the post between this country and Holland, the above process of sending money to a prisoner will take some three months, and will cause inconvenience and hardship; and whether some quicker and more reasonable method of transmitting money to prisoners in Holland will be devised and sanctioned?
§ Mr. JAMES HOPE (Lord of the Treasury)It has been decided to modify this Regulation, and sanction has been 843 obtained from the Treasury to permit British civilians interned in Holland to receive in the future from this country sums not exceeding £25 a month each.
§ Mr. BUTCHERWill the effect of that be that prisoners in Holland will get this money almost immediately?
37. Major DAVIESasked the hon. Member for Sheffield (Central Division) how many British and Native troops have been taken prisoners by the Turks and how many of these have been officially notified as having died or who have never been heard of, and what percentage this figure is of the total number who have been made prisoners by the Turks; and whether he has any information as to the fate of one officer and 635 other ranks and 2,600 of the rank and file of the Native troops, which comprised about 40 per cent. of the Kut garrison captured by the Turks?
§ Mr. HOPEAs on the last occasion, I will give the figures separately for the British and Indian Native prisoners. Of the British missing, including the Royal Navy and Colonials, 458 officers and 4,051 other ranks are known to have been captured by the Turks, of whom 14 officers and 1,497 other ranks have died. Of other ranks 596 are still untraced. Of the Indian Natives missing, 221 officers and 7,169 other ranks are known to have been captured by the Turks, of whom 5 officers and 1,341 other ranks have died, and 2,600 other ranks are still untraced. With regard to the second part of the question, it has already been stated that the officer previously untraced has been found not to be missing, and since my reply to a similar question on 18th March, 39 more British prisoners have been traced. The 596 British and the 2,600 Indian Natives who are mentioned above as untraced formed part of the Kut garrison.
§ 38. Mr. BUTCHERasked the hon. Member for Sheffield (Central Division) whether he can state the reason why the sending of clothing to British prisoners of war in Turkey has been prohibited by the War Office; whether he is aware that the effect of this prohibition is to cause great suffering to those prisoners, who are frequently interned in cold places where warm clothing is essential; whether he is aware that the Dutch Minister at Con- 844 stantinople has no clothing available with which to supply our prisoners; and whether permission can be given to the recognised care associations to send underclothing in reasonable quantities to these men?
§ Mr. HOPEThe American Ambassador at Constantinople and later the Netherlands Minister, advised the local purchase of clothing, and stated they were able to provide what was necessary. In view of the very bad facilities for transport to Turkey and great delays and loss incident to this method of dispatch, the arrangements made locally were thought preferable, and have so far worked well. The Netherlands Minister has probably better facilities for distribution than can exist in the case of postal parcels, and up to last December he had dispatched articles to various camps to the value of £T25,000. The Minister has been recently asked again by telegraph whether he can still make proper provision locally, and on receipt of his reply the question of dispatch from this country can be again considered.
§ Mr. BUTCHERDoes it appear that any new clothing has been supplied by the Netherlands Minister since December last to our prisoners?
§ Mr. BUTCHERIs the hon. Gentleman aware that up till quite lately the Reports showed that the Netherlands Minister had not any clothing to give?
§ Mr. HOPEThat point has been raised. It was exactly the object of the telegram to clear up that point. If there is clothing there, I think it is clear that it would be better supplied from there than here; but if they have not the means of sending the clothing other arrangements must be made.
§ 39. Mr. SNOWDENasked the hon. Member for Sheffield (Central Division) if he will say what are the conditions in regard to the exchange of private soldiers who have been captured prisoners of war in Germany since 1914; whether, in the exchange of prisoners, preference is given to officers and non-commissioned officers over private soldiers regardless of the length of time they have been prisoners of war; and whether he will consider the 845 possibility of securing the exchange of all prisoners of war who have been captured since 1914?
§ Mr. HOPEPrisoners of war are eligible for repatriation (as distinguished from internment in a neutral country) only on grounds of health. The decision rests with the medical authorities of the captor State, who are guided by a schedule of disabilities which have been accepted by the British and German Governments. No preference is given to officers or non-commissioned officers as regards repatriation, nor is any distinction made between those who were captured during or after 1914. The question of a general exchange of prisoners of war has been considered in conjunction with our Allies and found to be impracticable.
§ Mr. HUME-WILLIAMSAs a number of officers have been exchanged by agreement, is there any chance of this being extended to privates?
§ Mr. HOPEA great number of questions are continually coming up as time passes, and I do not know whether there will be any chance of extending this to privates. In the proposal made to the German Government last year it was categorically rejected.