§ 100. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for War how many people there are detained in prisoners-of-war camp No. 2228 at Waterloo in Belgium; what was their standard ration on the 1st January, 1946; what is it today; and how many persons have died in the camp or in hospital outside the camp from malnutrition since the camp first opened.
§ Mr. LawsonThe number of prisoners of war now detained at No. 2228 Camp is 13,600. The average holding over the period August, 1945, to May, 1946, works out at approximately 30,000. The calorific value of the ration on 1st January was 2,000 for non-workers and 2,400 for workers and for those non-workers certified by the medical authorities as requiring additional rations. The scale is the same today. The total number of deaths, both in camp and hospital, over the whole period, attributed to malnutrition was 61. Nearly all these occurred during November and December last year when the first really cold spell of winter coincided with an outbreak of dysentery. Except during these two months the death rate was in no way abnormally high as is shown by the fact. that the total number of deaths from all causes over ten months with an average population of 30,000 was 167.