PRISONERS OF JAPAN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 117, 12 February 1944, Page 7

PRISONERS OF JAPAN

Route Sought Via Siberia For Supplies

(British Official Wireless.) - RUGBY, February 10. A North Pacific route, via Siberia, is being sought for supplies to British and American prisoners of war in Japanese hands, said Sir William Kerr Fraser, British Red Cross liaison officer in the United States, in an interview in Toronto. So far, he said, supplies had been sent only in a few exchange ships. Asked in the House of Commons if he had approached the Soviet Government with a view to enlisting its good offices on behalf of British prisoners in Japanese hands, Mr. Eden, Foreign Minister, said that the Japanese Government had hitherto withheld permission for neutral inspection of any prisoner of war camps in the southern, area, where nine-tenths of the prisoners were held. In the north, where only limited inspection was allowed, representatives of the Protecting Power or inspectors of the International Red Cross could only make inquiries and give reports with the full knowledge and approval of the Japanese authorities.

The approximate number of British Commonwealth prisoners in Japanese hands was estimated at 140,000. The good offices of the Soviet Government had been sought and bad been forthcoming in connexion with the dispatch of prisoners of war correspondence and the forwarding of relief supplies through Soviet territory.