MUTINOUS GERMANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 10

MUTINOUS GERMANS.

PRISONERS IN AUSTRALIA. THE HOLDSWORTHY CAMP. ALL GUARDS STRENGTHENED. [hum ocn OWJJ co&fcEsraaiEre.] SYDNEY, Mar. 7. There arc between 4000 and 5000 Germans confined in the Holdsworthy concentration camp, about 20 miles from Sydney. As a rule, they have been docile enough, but every now and again they break forth and there is a period of hectic excitement. In the little town within the barbed-wiro enclosure, guarded con' stantly by men with fixed bayonets, alwave under tho menace of machine-guns mounted hero and there on high platforms, thesis Germans hare existed monotonously for /our years. The camp is on a slight slope, but from it nothing can be seen except an unvaried stretch of eucalypU. In this quiet place are gathered German civilians from all over Australia, planters from the islands, a few fighting men from South Africa and China—a varied assortment of dangerous Germans from all over the Pacific. Most of them ore tractable enough, but they have been easier to manage in the iant «"x or eight months. Before that, they wero convinced that Germany was winning, and they used to cheer themselves, and incidentally their guards, by telling what they would do to the 'Australians when the Kaiser's dreadnoughts came triumphantly into the south seas. There is no possible friendliness for the British among them, and most of them will probably be deported presently. It appears that the weary waiting for peace and their release ha* " got op the nems" of the internees, and they have been restless recently. It manifested itself in ft kind of strike. Internees do the baking for (he camp, and we paid 6s & day, They decided that they ought to have the Australian award rate, and they ceased work. The Germans'in the camp supported then, and a very ugly temper was shown. The military authorities bid not argue. They strengthened the guards, brought up civOtaa bakers from Sydney, and cut down the Germans' rations to the regulation allowance. For a long time, they have been liberally treated in tho matter of food. The Germans have sullenly accepted the positfojj. Their bakers have not surrendered, and the temper of the canty is ugly. The guards are on the qui vive, and all leave has been stopped. That is the position to-day.