PRISONERS OF WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 227, 24 September 1943, Page 3

PRISONERS OF WAR

Transfer To Japan Of Men From Malaya LESS THAN fiOO NOTIFICATIONS Rec. 9.30 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 23. It was stated in the House of Commons by the Financial Secretary to the War Office, Major Henderson, that official notification of the transfer to Japan had been received in respect of fewer than 600 of 16,300 prisoners of war of the United Kingdom and Australia notified as interned in Malaya.

The total of British prisoners now in Japan was believed to be about 7000 or SOOO, including .a substantial number captured in Java and Hongkong. There was no indication at present,that further transfers were contemplated. As regards treatment, said Major Henderson, information remained incomplete owing to the continued refusal of the Japanese Government to permit a visit to camps in occupied territories in which the bulk of the prisoners were detained. This refusal constituted a flagrant breach of international law and the Prisoners of War Convention, with which the Japanese Government had agreed to comply.

"MISSING" MEN

NO. NEWS OF 5217 AUSTRALIANS Rec. 9.30 a.m. CANBERRA, this day. No news has yet been obtained by the Commonwealth Government of 5217 officers and men of the Australian Imperial Forces reported missing in military operations against the Japanese. In announcing this, the Minister of the Army, Mr. Forde, said it was now known that 18,156 Australian soldiers were held as prisoners of war by the Japanese. Every endeavour was being made to obtain information about "missing" men.