CREW OF THE EMDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19882, 28 February 1928, Page 12

CREW OF THE EMDEN.

Sir,—The statement attributed in recent cable news ,to Princo Franz Joseph, of Germany, concerning the ill-treatment of sailors from the warship Emden in a prison camp at Malta, seems, on the face of it, to be a gross exaggeration. The Prince says 150 men of the Emden, with 850 others, spent three hopeless years shut in by high walls without room to exercise, and they endured a matryrdom to which the number of cases of madness or attempted suicide bore witness. Whatever discomforts these men may have suffered by way of restraint, they certainly were not denied exercise. One remembers seeing them on occasions, under an escort by no means obtrusive, marching to the sea for a pleasant swim in the heat of the morning. A fine physical type, one admired them for appearance, their spotless white clothing and personal cleanliness bespeaking their pride in themselves and their opportunities for preserving that pride. One did not see in their faces any strain of martyrdom, but rather a pleasantness which crossed the border of amiability. Gozo.