PRISONERS OF WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 150, 26 June 1943, Page 6

PRISONERS OF WAR

JAPANESE CAMPS Cabled ri all vice has been received by the Prisonlrs of War" Inquiry Office Headquarters in Wellington regarding visits* to? Japanese prison camps.. In Hong Kong camps officers are receiving pay enabling them, to supplement standard 'rdtions by purchases from the canteen; The conditions are improving owing |'to increased rations and weekly parcels. The camps visited at Osaka showed that the .allowances ;per head pew month are'3o sen, and this amount is more than that received by the Japanese soldiers. Red Cross parcels are i received in a'U the camps. Labour is Compulsory for n.c.o.s and privates, who Work eight hours per day with. Sundays free. Their pa.y is 10 to 35 ken a day. Five to cjx cigarettes are Mowed a day. Money earned is credited to savings accounts, and can be d*awn with the consent of .the authorities. \At'Camp Übe it is stated that the 'treatment, discipline, ana morale arfc Reports from Philippine camps, up to March state that the prisorierV health and conditions are improving; Mosquito nets are provided "fori all prisoners at. Camp la.i--wan glasses; have been purchased for 20 prisoners, unore recreation has been granted to: aged prisoners, and books, Bibles, an<i playing cards have been sent. At Camp Osaka gramophones, records, ping-pong sets, and footballs were purchased from the Pope s Relief Fund, and? nearly 4000 pairs of shoes ■were supplied by the Army. l RAISING OF PIGS. A report on Mukden Camp states that the health of the prisoners has generally improved. Canteens have been established in Java camps and pigs are being raised. Reports dated, the end ofj March state that civil internees in Japan proper are permitted to flispatch two letters written m Japanese per week or one letter in English a month containing not more than The°lntei;national Red Cross delegate reported ift March that 4000 books musical instruments, sports articles, and games-were purchased for camps in Japan by a committee consisting of ministers and: members of the Swedish Legation and. the International Red Cross delegate. The delegate also advised that he iis proceeding with nego T tiations to "establish educational facilities and books for Japanese camps. A prisoner- of war at Oflag 111 C (Stalag 383) stated that he .received .a parcel in just under three and a half months from the time it was dispatched from New "Zealand. ;