ity in the receipt of parcels."

FAVOURABLE AND HUMOROUS.

Of the officers' camp at Blankenberg i/Mark, Messrs. Jackson and Russell
report, "The atmosphere of the camp is excellent." There is a touch of
humour in the report on Merseburg (l.c. p. 29). "One man complained to
me that he had been punished for 'having a hole in his trousers' (as he
said), but on investigation I found that he had cut a new pair of
trousers, which had been given him by the German authorities, in order
to make a pair of boxing shorts. One man had a black eye, another a
sprained thumb, and a third a broken nose, as the result of boxing
matches."[10] The four English prisoners at Koenigsmoor said "that there
was no discrimination against them of any kind, and their relations with
the German guard were evidently pleasant. They all said that they had
plenty of warm clothing, including overcoats, and one even had an
overcoat which had been given him by the German authorities in addition
to one which he had received from home. They said the food was 'not
bad' ..." At the working camp at Hakenmoor, "the midday 'soup' was
excellent.... All looked in good health and seemed to be contented, and
their relations with the German guards appeared to be friendly....
Several complained that the clothing furnished soon became too tight for
comfort, and nearly every man in the camp had put on from ten to thirty
(even more) pounds of flesh. None spoke of any bad treatment ...
although one Englishman said that there were occasional differences with
the (Belgian) barrack captains. The Commandant is interested in his
work; he knows most of the men by name, and seems to try to do all in
his power to add to their comfort."

FOOD.

In these reports the food is almost invariably referred to as good, and
to save further quotations we may cite the evidence at Guestrow
i/Mecklenburg as giving a fair general view of the case (January, 1916):
"The men told me that while they depend on their home parcels for
variety, a man who received nothing (as is the case with the Russian
prisoners) could live on the food supplied, although in that case he
would always be glad when meal time came."

"ATMOSPHERE."

At Dyroetz, "the general atmosphere of the camp certainly seemed
excellent, both on the part of the men and on the part of the
authorities." (January, 1916.) At Blankenburg "the Commandant has now
adopted the practice of taking different officer prisoners of war with