HC Deb 22 February 1944 vol 397 cc647-8
38. Sir John Werdlaw-Milne

asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that officers who are prisoners of war in Japanese hands are not receiving pay as laid down by the terms of the Geneva Convention; and, in view of this, whether he will cease from making deductions from Army pay in this country in such cases.

Sir J. Griģģ

As the answer is necessarily rather long, I will, with my hon. Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

The Japanese Government have informed us officially on more than one occasion that they are paying British officers in their hands the rate of pay appropriate to the corresponding rank in the Japanese forces, and this has been confirmed by the Protecting Power in so far as camps which they have been able to visit are concerned. It would appear, therefore, that in this respect the Japanese Government recognise the provisions of the Prisoners of War Geneva Convention (though it was not ratified by them) and that they are carrying out these provisions in so far as we can verify the fact through independent visitors. As the House is aware, the Protecting Power and the International Red Cross Committee have been denied all access to camps in the Southern Area (comprising Burma, Siam, Indo-China, Malaya, Borneo and the Dutch East Indies) where the great majority of our prisoners are held; but such information as has reached us from this area indicates that officers are receiving pay here also. There is, therefore, no ground on which I could properly stop making deductions from the pay credited to officers at home in respect of pay issuable to them by the Japanese Government.

Perhaps I may add that no agreement has been reached with the Japanese Government regarding the rate of exchange to be applied to pay issued to officers and the Government have therefore decided that the rate shall be that operative immediately before the outbreak of hostilities, viz., 1 yen = 1s. 1⅞d. There is evidence that officers are not able to spend the whole of the pay issued to them by the Japanese and that arrangements exist, in the Northern Area at any rate, for them to save the pay they do not spend. Such savings will on repatriation be reconverted into sterling by us at the same rate as we have used for deductions from the pay credited at home.