THE INTERNED GERMANS.

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 2732, 1 June 1915, Page 4

THE INTERNED GERMANS.

At Somes Island some scores of rather disconsolate Germans are waiting for tile end of the war, which will bring to them the freedom that they have lost owing to the necessities of the military situation. A visit to tho j Island is an interesting experience. . The prisoners of war are a very mixed I lot, socially speaking, and some of ! them are a severe trial to the patience 1 of the representatives of the Defence ! Department. They insist upon doing various things that they have been told not to do, and they get punished accordingly; but many of the prisoners are ordinary, well-behaved people, who, under happier circumstances, would be living busy, useful lives within the Dominion. These interned Germans are able to procure books and papers, they are permitted .to j write letters under the supervision of f the censor, and the yarc oven allowed ', occasional visits to the city, under I military escort, in order to transact important business; but for them the days pass slowly, and they have shown considerable ingenuity in discovering ways of occupying their time. They have made queer and beautiful things of piuva shell, stone, and wood. Some of the carvings executed by them are really remarkable, and havo a commercial value. Such a production as the head of the Kaiser is not likely to appeal to local tastes—that is, outside Somes Island—but there are model ships, curiously Jife-like flowers, and ingeniously carved and decorated walking-sticks to bo seen among the exhibits. The prisoners are patriotic enough to expect_ a prolonged stay on thei rislanct prison. They do not believe that their country is going to be boa ten—at least, for a long time vet.—Duncdin Star.