asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware of public feeling about the fact that British Servicemen are acting as batmen to captured German officers; and if he will take steps to ensure that from this date no British Servicemen shall be asked or ordered to undertake this task.

I think there has been some misunderstanding about this. As a preliminary, to the capitulation of the German forces in Norway and the liberation of that country, a delegation of German officers arrived in the United Kingdom in order to provide the British military authorities with certain important information which facilitated the handing over of Norway and the territorial waters of that country. At that time these German officers were not prisoners of war, but delegates. It was considered expedient that these delegates, during the progress of the discussions, should be accorded the minimum courtesy appropriate in the circumstances. British personnel of the camp staff were accordingly ordered to carry out the following duties only:

(a) to keep the house clean in which the delegates were lodged;

(b) to rouse the delegates in the morning; and

(c) to serve the food in the mess room allotted to the delegates.

No personal service to the delegates of any kind was otherwise permitted, and specific warnings were addressed to the British personnel concerned against anything in the nature of fraternisation or personal service apart from the duties set out above.