§ Major Beamishasked the Secretary of State for War how many British men, women and children presumed to have been taken prisoner or interned by the Japanese in the Far East are still unaccounted for; and whether there is any hope that news of these people may still be forthcoming.
§ Mr. LawsonI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply I gave on 6th November to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Mr. Asterley Jones), which gave the total number of Service personnel in the Far east then unaccounted for from all causes, and the steps which were being taken to trace them. Since that date the number has been reduced to less than 6,500, due mainly, I regret to say, to the receipt of information regarding deaths. The work of tracing the missing and unrecovered prisoners is still proceeding, though I fear that the chances of survival of the men are now very slender. I have been unable to obtain any corresponding figures regarding civilian internees.