§ 113. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for War whether arrangements have now been made whereby prisoners of war in this country may communicate with Members of Parliament without restriction and that letters in return will be delivered without punishment.
§ Mr. BellengerCorrespondence between prisoners of war and persons in the United Kingdom is restricted to relatives and prewar acquaintances. I regret that I am unable to make an exception for Members of Parliament who cannot be said to represent individual prisoners of war. Any prisoner who has a grievance can represent it through military channels, and has also an unrestricted right to put his case to the International Red Cross. Prisoners of war are well aware that such correspondence is forbidden and disciplinary action is necessarily taken if the rules are broken. I have instructed commandants of prisoner of war camps to return any unauthorised correspondence to the sender.