BISHOP'S ORDEAL

Evening Star, Issue 25708, 4 February 1946, Page 10

BISHOP'S ORDEAL

TORTURE BY JAPANESE A NATIONAL POLICY OF RUTHLESSNESS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, February 3. The only bishop of the Anglican Church to suffer imprisonment and torture by the Japanese during the Pacific war, the lit. lle\j. J. L. Wilson, Bishop of Singapore, arrived from Sydney by flying boat yesterday on a three weeks' visit to New Zealand. Bishop Wilson, who has come to New Zealand at the invitation of the Board of Missions of the Anglican Church, will address gatherings in North and South Island centres on mission work in the Pacific, and will preach the sermon at the opening of the General Synod in St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin, on February 14. Bishop and Mrs Wilson are the guests of the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, and Lady Newall, at Government House. Bishop Wilson has completely recovered from" the dreadful experience of eight mpnths' continuous torture and interrogation by the Japanese military police, during which he lost sst in weight and 15 of his 45 fellowprisoners died through ill-treatment. In a survey of Japanese atrocities Bishop Wilson said that looting, torture, or annihilation were practised more as expressions of policy than for their own sake. ' The education of the Japanese had been intensely nationalistic, and they were probably the most obedient race on earth. If they thought that ruthlessness suited their ends, such a policy was relentlessly carried out. They were suspicious of any friendly overtures, because they always suspected ulterior motives. " Th'ey had streaks of sadism intermingled with strange bursts of kindness," Bishop Wilson continued. "During my period of interrogation 1 celebrated my forty-sixth birthday. They asked me that day how old 1 was, and when I replied they hit me on the head with a ruler and wanted to know why I previously claimed to be 45. When I replied that it was my birthday the third degree questioning was immediately stopped, and I was given an excellent meal of meat and . vegetables amid expressions of felicitation. My torture later continued." Bishop Wilson and Mrs Wilson are to leave for Rotorua to-morrow. They will later visit Napier, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, and Hamilton.