PRISONERS OF WAR

Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 9

PRISONERS OF WAR

AUCKLANDEB IN GERMANY.

CAPTURED AT YPRES

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

AUCKLAND, October 1,

The uncertainty so widespread through, out New Zealand regarding the fate of men reported missing and taken prisoner by the Turks throws into strong relief tha facility of communication permitted to British prisoners in Germany. One of the most interesting stories connected with. Aucklanders on active service was told yesterday by Mrs Eva Good, of Hobson street, who had just received a letter from her husband, bearing the significant if somewhat overwhelming heading “ Kriejijarefangenenlager,” translated as “ prisoner of war,” Merseburg Prison Camp,, Germany. Private Ben Good, an Imperial reservist belonging to the Scots Guards, was called to the colours last year, and left New Zealand on October 9 en route for ‘'Somewhere in France.” On January 26 Mrs Good received word through the Defence Department that her husband was missing. Two months of anxiety passed, and! then came a cablegram from the Wat Office stating that Good and a friend named Kennedy, another reservist from Auckland, had been taken prisoner during the desperate fighting at Ypres, and wore in a German prison camp at Merseburg. Notification followed by mail, with papers from the War Office giving instructions as to how to forward parcels and letters. Then came an appeal for money from Private Good through the New Zealand High Commissioner. Private Good had evidently been wounded, as the first word from the War Office that h« was in hospital, this news coming while his wife was ill in the Auckland Hospital, of which sbe was an inmate for several weeks Then followed three reassuring cards, allaying anxiety and maldn - regent appeal for more money, clothes, a->ri any kind of food. Mrs Good at once forwarded a parcel, and represented the case to the Patriotic League, as a result of which another useful parcel was forwarded last month. The letter received yesterday was the first Private Good has been permitted to send, and although the tone of it is cheerily hopeful, it leaves the impression that life in a German prison camp has distinct limitations in the way of creature comforts. “ Cheer up,’’ he writes, “ I an; fine here, and I’ll have lots of money after the war! Please send me the foil wu g things, and try to get the parcel h time’’ for Christmas, and keep on se ■ eg me things until peace is declared, when I will be home with you again. I want as soon as possible some sugar, tea, biscuits, jam, sardines, chocolate, tobacco, stale bread—in fact, anything at all in tins; also any old clothes, boots, and a bat. Money and eatables are the most important. I have got the first parcel you sent, but only half the things you mentioned in your letter. Keep on writing, but be sure you don’t make any mention of the war/ I’ll send you u ■•■svd every week, so cheer- up.” Mrs Good has been considerably cl viby this letter, and although she ha, had a hard time since her husband left and has been out of the hospital only a few weeks, she intends sending a parcel of Christmas cheer to brighten his Ife in the German prison camp. The Patriotic. Relief Committee, through Sister Esther, has already assisted Mrs Good and_ helped with her former parcel—help which has been greatly appreciated.