The press TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1918. "For All Prisoners and Captives."

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16211, 14 May 1918, Page 6

The press TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1918. "For All Prisoners and Captives."

In tho Litany appointed to be "said or , "sung" in every Anglican church throughout the Empire there is no petition which carries with it more poignant significance at the present time than that which embodies a prayer on behalf of "all prisoners and "captives." For we think instinctively. of the prisoners of war in the hands of tho enemy, and vto shudder to I think of the sufferings theso men have been called upon to endure on our behalf. At the beginning of the war there is no doubt that the Germans treated our prisoners of war with ruthless ferocity out of pure vindictiveness. In some cases that has since been modified by fear of retaliation, but there is no question ' that in every prisoners' camp in Germany and Turkey English and Dominion soldiers are sufforing the severest privations for want of proper nourishment, and would actually starve were it not for the parcels of food sent to them from their own countrymen and countrywomen. Only yesterday we published the narra- • tive of two Australian soldiers who had managed to escape from the German lines. Contrary to the Hague Con-, vention —which Germany respects as little as she does any other "scrap of "paper"—they were put to work on an aerodrome within a shell-fire area. ' They were confined at night in a ' prison, they were allowed no blankets, and were given daily only 4oz of sour black bread, and H pints of thick soup made from macaroni, barley, or dry vegetables, and a pint of coffee for breakfast and tea. Needless 'to say, it is impossible to keep body and soul together on such starvation fare as this, °but there is only too much reason to believe that the treatment of those men was no worse,, if it was not actually better, than that of many others. The only way in which these unhappy prisoners in the hands of the TTnrf can be kept from slow starvation is by sending them such articles of food as they are allowed to receive. As our readers are aware, this good work is one of the beneficent activities of the Red Cross; a special appeal for funds for this cause is now being made in our columns on behalf of the Red Cross and the Navy League. At the annual meeting ike Bs&s£ And firoes Society and,.

) tho Order of St. John, held in Febru- | ary last, the report of the Central Committee for tho relief of prisoner's stated the rapid growth of the cost of this department -was causing much anxiety. Its cost to the Joint Committee at the hour of writing the report was estimated at £2000 a day. Later news received on May 2nd, direct from tho Central Committee, by the Canterbury Centre, put the expenditure necessary to keep our captivo men from starvation at £1,C00,000 per annum. This sudden extra demand, it is suggested, was probably due to the number of prisoners taken in the recent great Gorman attack. "We feel sure it is only necessary to mention these facts, and to direct attention to the appeal, to j

secure a generous response from our readers. Here are we in New Zealand, enjoying abundanco of food, with every comfort, and oven luxury- No

man or woman among us with a spark of decent feeling or human sympathy can think of our brave soldiers starving in the hands of the enemy without resolving nt once to do "what lies in their power to lighten the lot of the sufferers. Fortunately, the present appeal of the Red Cross Society and Navy Lrngue affords the opportunity of sending at least such help as is possible.