DELIVERED OF HIS BEARD

Grey River Argus, 17 October 1914, Page 3

DELIVERED OF HIS BEARD

NEW ZEALANDER IMPRISONED IN GERMANY. AN UNPLEASANT THREE WEEKS. LONDON, Oct. 7. Mr. A. M. Carr, of Auckland and Wellington, is one of the many tourists on the Continent who came in for rough, though fortunately not brutal, treatment at the hands of the Germans whose unwilling "guest" he was forced to be for* some weeks. With a party of friends, amongst .those an Australian, an Englishman, and some English ladies, he was travelling through Germany, where, lit Osnabruck, on August 5, they were arrested by the military, and taken befor the German Inspector of Police, all cash being taken from them, am* their letters and luggage minutely examined. Mr. Carr has his passport, obtained through the. New Zealand Government, and for five hours battled to get his party through on this. Eventually they were allowed to go through to Reine, where they interviewed a high military official, who passed them at once, and let them go on to Selzbergen, where they arrived on August 6. The train was full of German troops and the carriage had glaring inscriptions in German — evidently' calculated to inspire the military passengers^ "John Bull; Hanging by His Neck." was one, while hoped-for ultimate destinations chalked on the carriages were "St. Petersburg Paris — London." During the journey they were taken out and put in a third-class carriage on a loop line with guards with loaded rifles over them. They protested that they were Britons, but the precious, passport was taken from them, and the carriage door locked. As the train was going on to Holland they were taken out, and to f . she! on the ceiling of which were numbers of large hooks. They " could "hang themselves if they wanted to-," they were told. Later they were given bread and but tr, their luggage was put in a cart and they were all marched through the town of Bcntheim, on the Dutch fron tier, where they were destined to spend some time. With over 20 people they were put into one room, 33 by 30, in a third-class hotel, their companions in distress being Russians, Russian Finns, Russian Poles, a couple of South African naturalied Poles, and seven French. /The ladies were allowed to proceed to England.

After a few days neaTly 40 other unfortunates joined the men left behind, and these mainly being- English French and Russians. Forty Germans were set to guard them.

Mr. Alexander, the Australian, had been allowed to communicate with his agent in Hamburg, for money, which arrived — .£5. Those that could pay for food were able to obtain it ; the others were put in gaol on prison rations. For iS days the large parry existed somehow or another. Every few days they were allowed to walk in an area of about 15 yards for exercise. At night seven would be herded into rooms in which there were a couple of single beds, and the sanitary arrangements were intolerable. After nearly three weeks they demanded to see the Landgraf, and Mr. Alexander complained about his health They' »>nmtr-/l out that they were colonials travelling, and asked to be freed. The answer was that they could go to an infirmary by paying for it. All other requests were denied. Notices were posted up in the prisoners' rooms of all German victories, and ftf>at peals of bells could be heard outside. All these people were in possession of passports which ihad been given them by the Chief of Police in Germany, with the assurance that they were- tree to travel unmolested. On the way from to Reine our party were closely interrogated as to whether they were Briti i'sh, and the situation seemed so acute that they eventually got through, as Americans ! ' They were constantly searched. Eventually they got into a train tor Flushing, and reached London late on Tuesday night Mr. Carr. it is interesting to note, is still of military age, but had grown a beard durng his incarceration, and was passed as 48: