EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
FAR-REACHING AGREEMENT.
DIFFICULTY WITH TURKEY.
LONDON, July 25. In the House of Lords yesterday Lord Newton, Assistant-Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, replying to Lord Devonport, said that tho Anglo-German agreement regarding prisoners of war was very far-reaching, and involved the exchange of a very large number of combatants and the repatriation of all civilians who so wished. The agreement also dealt with relief and treatment of prisoners. The speedy ratification of the treaty was difficult, as there were points requiring much consideration, and reservations on
the part of Germany might occasion delay, but the British were doing their utmost to expedite such ratification.
As regarded prisoners of war in Turkey, Lord Newton said that the position was more difficult. Turkey did not know her own mind, and did. not wish for any exchange of prisoners. No means had been neglected to come to an agreement with Turkey, but so far they had been-rather unsuccessful. The Berne Conference had led to an improvement of the treatment of prisoners of war. lhe reason why parcels of food had not reached our prisoners in Turkev was because Austria had stopped them" We had bow stopped parcels from Austria to Austrian prisoners here, hoping thereby to improve the position of our prisoner's in Turkey. The Government wished to despatch a ship with Turkish prisoners sending by her food and clothing for British prisoners in Turkey, but the ship's safety must be guaranteed. He doubted whether Turkey had taken steps to obtain such _ safeguards from Germany and I Austria. i
Lord Newton said that he had induced the leading German delegate at The Hague to promise to take up this matter on his return to Berlin. The Cabinet was prepared to make further proposals but the prospects of Turkey agreeing to the total exchange seemed improbable Bulgaria, however, was quite rea dv for an agreement similar to tfte Ant-10-'German agreement. i
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19180812.2.58
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16926, 12 August 1918, Page 6
Word Count
318EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16926, 12 August 1918, Page 6
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the New Zealand Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence . This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries and NZME.