PRISONER IN GERMANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3348, 15 May 1918, Page 23

PRISONER IN GERMANY.

A NEW ZEALANDER'S STORY. FIFTEEN MONTHS' HARDSHIP. Private A. J. Poole, of the 2nd Canterbury Rjfles, who left with the Ninth Reinforcements, has written an interesting letter from Switzerland regarding his experiences while a prisoner of war in Germany. Prior to enlisting he was foreman to Aickcn and Sons, at Gisborne. " After a little over 15 months' hardship, and at times extreme clanger," writes Private Poole, " thank God, I am now in a neutral country at last." Private Poole writes that ha was wounded on Thursday, September 21, 1916, and regained consciousness the following Saturday evening, to find find himself an inmate of a German hospital in Cambfai. A month later he was sent by a Red Cross train to a lazaretto, where he remained until he was able to be put to work on a farm at Schwechtenburg, on the border of Prussia, where he remained until the beginning of October, 1917. Life on the farm was not so bad at times, ho writes. "The old couple for whom I worked" (he writes) "were very good to me, but the 'postes," who looked after us, seemed to forget at times we were human beings. I was engaged in all sorts of work, ploughing, reaping, cutting firewood, and fishing under the ice. I was receiving my packets fairly regularly, so the question of food did not trouble me to any extent." SCARCITY OF FOOD. " To see the people day by day coming from surrounding towns, weeping and going on their knees to beg food, was an experience I shall never forget. Mothers with three and four children, their faces white and pinched with hunger, pleading for food. Ladies elegantly dressed came also; they had plenty of money, but the answer was always the same: ' I cannot.' You can take it from me, old chap, Germany must give in before many months are over. I have travelled about the country a little, and everywhere it is tho same. About tho middle of March the trouble will bo worse than last year. At present tho prices are incredible: —Coffee 25 marks per pound, pepper 25, mustard 18, thread 7 per reel, woollen goods (only one-third wool)" 18. Tho bread is mado from potatoes, straw, etc." Private Poole was sent in October to work in a sugar factory. Here, ho states, life began to get unbearable. The hours wore from 6 to 6, including Sundays, but often he had to work 18 hours a day. Late? he was sent to Mannheim. Owing to the transfers from place to place he did not get his packets regularly, with the result that he never felt hunger more keenly. He was in Mannheim when the British flying machines bombed tho place. He states a crood deal of damago was done, but unfortunately does Cot describe it, beyond stating that it was a grand sight, putting him in mind of tho old times at the front. On December 26 he was sent to Switzerland. Ho writes:—"At Zurich we had a fine reception from the people. Cigarettes, bread, coffee, chocolate, and other things were handed into the carriages. At Berne a fine lunch was waiting, and a number of English ladies attended at the tables. Each man was presented with a writing

outfit, also cards inscribed: "Good luck — from tho Queen.' " While gljid to have reached Switzerland, he writes: "I am sorry to say there are hundreds of poor fellows who should have boon sent out longago." He also states that ho had to givo up keeping a diary "while in Germany, because it rendered him liable to three months' imprisonment, as well as losing all tho chance of being exchanged.