§ Colonel YATEasked the hon. Member for Sheffield (Central Division) whether, in the negotiations regarding the internment of British and Turkish prisoners of war in a neutral country, the possibility of using Java as a suitable and convenient neutral country was duly considered, considering how easily Turkish prisoners in Burmah could be transported there?
Mr. J. HOPEThe possibility of the internment in Java of Turkish prisoners from Burmah was duly considered, but no action was taken in regard to it, in view of the fact that Java is some 2,000 miles from the place where the prisoners are interned, and that their transfer thither in present circumstances would therefore present serious inconveniences. I may add that it seems very doubtful whether the Turkish Government would have been ready to accept the internment of their prisoners in a territory which, 195W although neutral, is more distant from Turkey than Burmah, and in which they would be exposed to a trying climate. In any case we could not contemplate Turkish prisoners being sent to Java unless British prisoners were also sent to a neutral country under proper conditions of climate and otherwise, and, unfortunately, it did not seem practicable to make such an arrangement. As my hon. and gallant Friend knows, an agreement has now been made for the direct exchange of certain classes of British and Turkish prisoners, and it is probable that any extension of this agreement will proceed on the same basis and not on that of transfer to a neutral country.