§ Mr. ROWNTREEasked the Home Secretary how many German civilian prisoners there are in the camp at Knockaloe at the present time; how many of these are over forty-five years of age; what form of employment is being undertaken by the civilian prisoners and what proportion of the men have definite work assigned to them; whether there are signs that insanity is increasing amongst the prisoners; and whether he has considered the possibility of some of the men being engaged in some useful work of reclamation?
Mr. SAMUELThere are 22,435 alien enemy prisoners at present in the camp at Knockaloe, of whom it is estimated that about 3,500 are forty-five years of age and upwards. Large numbers of the prisoners are employed in various duties about the camp, in making clothes, in horticulture, etc., etc. Small parties are from time to time engaged in stone-breaking, peat-cutting, farm work, etc., in the island, and others carry on wood carving and other private occupations. Efforts are made to provide as many as possible of the prisoners with useful work; but the problem is a very difficult one. Among the first schemes considered was that of the reclamation of land, and work of this character has been started on a small scale in the island, which it is intended to extend so far as weather and other conditions permit. I am happy to say that, while the effect of prolonged internment on the nervous and mental condition of prisoners must always cause anxiety, the incidence of lunacy among the prisoners at Knockaloe is low. The cases of lunacy certified between April, 1915, and September, 1916, represent an annual occurrence rate of 1.6 per thousand, which is much less than the rate among the general population of this country for males of the same range of ages.
§ Commander WEDGWOODasked the Treasurer of the Household whether Prince Salm-Salm, an able-bodied German prisoner of war, was allowed to go back to Germany; whether he gave his parole not to fight in future; and who were received in exchange for him?
§ Mr. FORSTERI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer I gave to the hon. and gallant Member for South Monmouthshire on 19th October. It is believed that Prince Salm-Salm was able-bodied.
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§ Commander WEDGWOODasked the Treasurer of the Household whether it is the German view that a prisoner has a cash value as a labourer; whether the Germans make our prisoners work; and what proportion of the German prisoners we hold are doing work of similar character?
§ Mr. FORSTERI think it is the case that the German authorities value their prisoners as labourers. In reply to the last part of the question, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 18th October.
§ Commander WEDGWOODasked the Treasurer of the Household whether we hold as prisoners of war any members of noble German families; and whether any inquiry has been made as to officer prisoners that have royal or political influence in Germany?
§ Mr. FORSTERSome prisoners belonging to German families of high social position are held, and inquiries with regard to some of them have been received from the German Government.
§ Commander WEDGWOODasked the Treasurer of the Household whether on or about 6th October there were fifty-seven disabled British prisoners exchanged for eighty-four German; and, if so, why we do not only exchange man for man, seeing that the Germans are keeping some of our men out of Switzerland on frivolous excuses?
§ Mr. FORSTER. Fifty-seven disabled British prisoners were repatriated on 8th October. At the same time fifty-seven disabled German prisoners, four mental cases, and twenty-eight German medical personnel were sent back to Germany. Disabled prisoners in both countries are selected for repatriation by medical boards. The exchange is not on the basis of man for man.
§ Commander WEDGWOODasked the Treasurer of the Household whether he has any evidence that it is usual in Germany to hold out hopes to individual British disabled prisoners of war that they will be sent to Switzerland, which hopes are disappointed, sometimes after they have been brought within sight of the Swiss frontier; and, if so, will he see that no German disabled prisoner is sent to either Germany or Switzerland in excess of the numbers of British sent to either place by Germany?
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§ Mr. FORSTERIt may be that in some cases hopes are held out, but the Army Council have no evidence that this is done as a measure of persecution in the knowledge that the hope will not be realised. As regards the rest of the question, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer given to-day to the hon. Member for Mile End.
§ Mr. BROOKESasked the Secretary of State for War whether the selection now proceeding of sick German prisoners in British hands to be interned in Switzerland will be carried out on the basis of a strict numerical equivalent to the corresponding action by the German Government?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGENo, Sir. The selection of invalid prisoners of war for transfer to Switzerland is based on a standard of disability which has been agreed to between His Majesty's Government and the German Government. Equality of numbers transferred is not a condition of the agreement.
§ Mr. MALCOLMasked the Secretary of State for War if he will inform the House why the German Government has refused to allow more than one British-born clergyman to minister to 30,000 British prisoners of War in Germany; and whether he will publish the negotiations that have passed on the subject?
§ Lord R. CECILThe German Government state that over sixty German ministers of religion, who speak English, are carrying out their spiritual duties among the British prisoners, and that Mr. Williams, the only British clergyman who remained in Germany after the outbreak of war, has been allowed to carry on his work without interference. We are prepared to lay correspondence on this subject if there is a general desire that this should be done. I should like to take this opportunity to express our high appreciation of the work of Archdeacon Nies, an American citizen, among our prisoners in Germany.
§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Secretary of State for War, if he has been furnished with the reasons of the German Government sending prisoners to Rennbohn Camp, Munster, Westphalia; how many English prisoners were sent there; what they are doing; and if particulars as to their clothes, food, and work are known or can be obtained?
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§ Lord R. CECILNo recent reports have been received from the United States Embassy in regard to this camp and we have no reason to suppose that the conditions obtaining there are essentially different from those obtaining in other camps in Germany. If the hon. Member will furnish me with the information in his possession as to this camp I will see that the causes for complaint are investigated.