§ Mr. SWANasked the Secretary of State for War whether information has been received from Japanese or other sources of the number of prisoners of war in Siberia; what is the present condition of the camps in which they have been interned; whether he can state approximately the number or percentage of 897W those who have died and of those who have been disbanded from camps and absorbed by the life and industries of the country; and whether any efforts are being, or will be, made to bring home to their own countries the prisonesr still known to be in Siberia?
Mr. HARMSWORTHFrom the information at our disposal it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the number of prisoners of war in Siberia, but it is believed that there may be as many as 50,000 in that region. Owing to the situation in that country it is impossible to obtain sufficient information to reply adequately to the second and third parts of the Question; but before the fall of Admiral Koltchak the conditions in prisoners' camps were very bad. The answer to the last part of the Question is that, at the request of the League of Nations, Dr. Nansen has undertaken to organize the relief and repatriation of ex-prisoners of war in Siberia.