§ 39. Sir J. BUTCHERasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is 2284 aware that captive officers of the Merchant Service interned in Germany and Austria were prior to the 1st September, 1917, threatened by their captors that, failing their paying two marks per diem for their keep, these prisoners would be transferred from officers' camps to men's camps and made to work in the mines; whether on condition of these prisoners being retained in officers' camps the Government decided that as from 1st September, 1917, this subsistence allowance should be borne out of public funds; and, if so, whether, having regard to the services of the officers of the Mercantile Marine during the War, he will now consider the justice of refunding the subsistence allowances which have been paid prior to the 1st September, 1917, by these officers in order that they might remain in officers' internment camps?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. Wardle)I am aware that Merchant Service officers who were prisoners in Germany were threatened last year with removal to men's camps if allowances to cover officer treatment were not paid. In order to ensure the retention in, or transfer to, officer camps of Mercantile Marine officers, His Majesty's Government guaranteed from the 1st September, 1917, the payment of 100 or sixty marks per month, according to rank, for this privilege of "officer" treatment. Where officers have themselves paid this allowance since that date the amount will be refunded by the Board of Trade upon application, and if the hon. Member will inform me of any cases of payment by the officers themselves prior to that date, which have not been recovered from other sources, I will see whether a refund cannot be made in these cases also.