[from FO 383/432/77366]

This somewhat short and rather naive report was ocassioned by a request to the British Red Cross by the German Red Cross to investigate certain allegations reported to them as described in the attached covering letter. The cover note commented that "Considering the size & locality of the Camp this is a very satisfactory report on the subjects dealt with". The "cases of suicide" ...are not dealt with.

Home Office
Whitehall
1st May, 1918

I am directed by Secretary Sir George Cave to transmit herewith for the information of Lord Newton a report on the Internment Camp at Knockaloe, Isle of Man, by Sir James Cantlie of the British Red Cross Society I am to explain that the Report was prepared in response to a communication received by the British Red Cross Society from the German Red Cross transmitting a statement by a German interned at Knockaloe to the effect that the camp was quite unbearable, that cases of suicide and insanity caused by hunger and cruel treatment were frequent and that sixty per cent of the parcels received from Germany were intercepted. The German Red Cross requested that the truth of this statement might be verified and that everything possible "might be done to redress this wrong" and asked that they might be informed of the result of the enquiries.

It is understood that a copy of the Report is being transmitted to the German Red Cross.

[signed] John Pedder

Report upon the conditions of the Internment Camp at Knockaloe, Isle of Man.

By Sir JAMES CANTLIE, K.B.E., M.B., F.R.C.S., D.P.H.

Dear Sir Arthur Stanley.

In accordance with your instructions I proceeded to the Isle of Man on Wednesday, Feb. 13th, 1918. On reaching Douglas, I called at the Government Offices and interviewed Mr. B. E. Sargeaunt O.B.E. Government Secretary and Treasurer. Subsequently I was received by H.E. the Governor, Lord Raglan, C.B., and everything was conveniently arranged for my visit to the Internment Camp for Aliens at Knockaloe near Peel.

On proceeding to Knockaloe I was met by Major H. Cowle, the Camp Construction Officer, i.e. Works Officer, who acted as my guide during my visit. I called upon the Officer Commanding the Camp and every facility was granted me for enquiries.

To accomodate the interned Aliens a Farm consisting of no less than 400 acres was taken over by Government. It is situated on the western part of the Island adjacent to the sea, and within a short distance of the town of Peel.

As my directions were to enquire into (a) the health of the Camp, and (b) the delivery of Parcels and Letters to the interned Aliens, I will deal with these principally.

A—THE HEALTH OF THE CAMP.

as shown by the conditions, ailments and mortality of the interned aliens.

THE SITUATION OF THE CAMP.

The Camp is situated on sloping ground extending from near the high cliffs on the western shore of the island in a south-easterly direction, so that it is exposed to sunshine during the whole day.

The high ground is some 140 feet above sea level, and the ground falls away towards a stream at the foot of the Camp, which is but a few feet above sea level. The slope is considerable, but nowhere is it excessive, so that roads are easily traversed in all directions. The slope is sufficient to allow the rain to run off readily, so that there is no possibility of any stagnant water collecting about the Camp.

THE PLAN OF KNOCKALOE CAMP

The area occupied by the whole Camp is ample to a degree; so that there is neither surface crowding, nor overcrowding in the housing accommodation.

There are Four Groups of Camps, and each Camp is subdivided into sections as follows:-

No. I. Camp contains 7 Sections.
No. II. Camp contains 5 Sections.
No. III. Camp contains 6 Sections.
No. IV. Camp contains 5 Sections.

Each of the four Camps is under the command of a military Officer. The sectional Camps are controlled by a Non-commissioned Officer appointed for that purpose, and the whole is under the command of the Commandant of the entire Camp. In this way uniformity is guaranteed and controlled.

The numbers in the Camp vary, owing to the fact that men are:—

(a) Repatriated from time to time.
(b) Transferred from the Isle of Man at their own request, to other parts of the British Isles, so as to be nearer their friends and relations.
(c) Sen elsewhere so as to promote the happiness or welfare of the interned.

At the time of my visit the numbers were between 18,000 and 19,009 interned men.

ROADS AND COMMUNICATIONS.

There are wide roads in good condition throughout the Camp in all directions. The roads are paved by railway sleepers laid crosswise on the pathways and although the sleeps lie against and parallel to each other, there is sufficient space between them to allow the rain water to run off in a waterway beneath them so that the roadways are never muddy, nor is there any chance of pools of water accumulating.

LIGHT RAILWAYS

traverse the Camps so that food, coals, etc. can be conveniently conveyed into and about the Camps.

THE DWELLING HUTS.

The Huts are raised from the ground, well built, warm, water-tight, lofty, and well lighted and ventilated.

All the men interrogated said that they were comfortable in their surroundings.

GENERAL CAMP ARRANGEMENTS

Each Camp has its own stores, mess-rooms, kitchens, bath-rooms, latrine, urinals, gymnasium, recreation, writing and reading rooms, medical department and Hospital. All these were in good order The latrines and urinal were devoid of smell with flushing arrangements and soil pipes and drains in perfect order. The Hospital wards were well warmed, tidy and clean.

FOOD, ITS QUALITY,QUANTITY AND SOURCE

I visited a central kitchen and enquired privately of the Director of the kitchen - a German - if there were any complaints by the prisoners of the food, either as regards quuality, quantity, or variety, and he declared most positively that there were not. I saw they were cooking bread in the kitchen, and asked why he did not have the bread from the central bakery. His reply was that this was bread made from flour sent in parcels by friends from several sources, and that in every Camp this was prepared separately for interned prisoners, so that every man got the bread made from the flour sent to him personally in addidition to the regular supply sent from the main bakery. I asked this man if any of the interned complained that parcels thus sent went astray, and he said that he had not heard of and and that he would be sure to hear from the men if there were any complaints.

I visited the Great Central Bakery, and found that building was clean and well ventilated, the ovens were in good order and the flour from which the bread was made was good and of much better quality than that supplied to the civilian population in England. The bakers were all expert German bakers. There was no scarcity, The bread was stored in well ventilated bins and tasted wholesome and sweet.

SOURCES OF SUPPLY OF BREAD AND FLOUR.

Bread is supplied:-
(1) from the Central Bakery to each individual.
(2) Bread is made from the flour mentioned above whis is sent in parcels from friends of the prisoners and cooked for them personally in the local Camp kitchens.
(3) Flour is also sent through Red Cross Societies in neutral countries to individual prisoners, and the parcels are supplied to them.

In proof of this, I met a trolly on one of the Camp roads containing a number of parcels. I stopped the man in charge and found that the parcels were packets of flour sent by the Spanish and Italian Red Cross Societies to the interned aliens. The name of the man for whom the parcel was intended was written on the packet, and it was delivered to him direct. Men therefore were having the bread ration from the Camp, the flour made into bread from friends, and also that sent through Red Cross Societies in other countries, a triple source of supply which ensured more than sufficient food. I asked the man in charge of the trolly — a German — if he had heard any complaints of non-delivery, but he said he had heard of none; occasionally, it was true that the men had left the Camp for elsewhere and then the parcels were returned to the Camp post office to be forwarded to the new address of the prisoner, Mis-directed parcels, or parcels from which labels—and therefore names and addresses— were lost, are a frequent cause of delay in parcel and letter delivery. The addressed has sometimes left the Camp, or the parcel may be sent on from a former camp in which he had resided in the first instance.

WATER SUPPLY.

The water, which is the same as that used in the town of Peel, is gathered from an absolutely uncontaminated source. The supply is abundant, amounting to no less than 30 gallons per head of the population of the Camp — a quantity equal to that supplied to any large town in Britain, and the largest quantity ever supplied to any camp, military or civil.

DRAINAGE.

The surface water has proved a difficulty, owing to the excessive rainfall, but by ample ditches and surface channels, and by an ingenious method of channels beneath the roadways, this difficulty has been overcome, All the thoroughfares in the Camp are paved with railway sleepers closely laid, while beneath there is a wide channel to carry off the surplus water, so that the rain water runs off through the intervals between the sleepers If any obstruction should occur in these channels, the water comes up between the sleeper whereby the obstruction at once declares itself and can be remedied immediately.

SEWERAGE.

The sewage is carried from the latrines, urinals, kitchens, baths, and laundries by pipe drains, and owing to the excellent fall the pipes are readily cleared. The Service pipes are conveyed to tanks below the Camp, and the contents of these tanks were formerly after screening spraying and irrigation, run off into a steam at the foot of the hill on which the Camp stands. Owing, however, to some complaint from the people of the neighbouring town of Peel as to this system rendering the stream unsavoury, this practice was given up. The sewage is now run off from the tanks, screened and pumped by engines driven by electricity through an ample sewage pipe some 700 yards over the high ground behind the Camp, and discharged over the cliff into the sea.

MEDICAL ARRANGEMENTS AND HOSPITALS.

The Camp is well supplied with Doctors, some resident, some visiting medical men in practise in the neighbourhood, so that the Government of the Island are informed privately of all that goes on within the Camp itself; no faults can be hidden.

Arrangements are made for the more serious surgical operation cases to be taken to the General Hospital in the town of Douglas where a special ward is set aside for them, Daily clinics are held in each Camp, where the doctor sees all cases of illness and deals with them promptly.

Complaints of neglect in the Hospitals I visited were nil, I interrogated several of the patients in the wards privately, that is to say, with no bystander, and invariably had the answer "I am well looked after."

RECREATION AND WORK.

In close touch with each Camp, Recreation Grounds of ample size are provided, The largest within the Camp is a field of 82 acres in extent, but there are several of smaller dimensions. There are many tennis courts suitable for play in winter or summer. There is an extensive golf and recreation ground on high ground to the south of the Camp. All the recreation grounds are well attended. Several excellent string and brass bands have been formed in the Camps and concerts and entertainments are frequently given.

WORK

is given to as many men as possible, 1,200 are employed in the Camp itself. There are "plots" everywhere, both in and around the Camp where the prisoners can cultivate ther own food. In workshops, bakeries, kitchens, laundries, post office, parcel office, in clerical work, roadmaking and many other forms of industry the men are given employment. "Amongst these" I was informed by more than one German I interrogated (I can speak sufficient German to do so privately) "amongst the workers there are no grumblers ; it is among those who wont work that there is grumbling and complaints, mostly of a trifiing and childish nature." One instance told me was that in which a man asked the doctor for a pill. The doctor examined the man and asked him a few questions, and finally said "I dont think you want a pill now." This man wrote to the Red Cross in Switzerland that he was denied medicine when he was ill. An enquiry was held, and the truth of the complaint was elicited and proved to be farcical.

THE DEATH RATE.

The health of the Camp is good. The following table gives the statistics:—

STATEMENT.

This gives a death rate of about 2.5 per thousand of the Camp residents, whereas the death rate of the Island generally is 15.7 per thousand, a very low death rate for any community,

DISEASES.

The chief ailment in the Camp is tuberculosis. A number of the prisoners when first interned were found to be suffering from early phthisis. Many had had trouble long previous to their coming to the Camp, and in several instances the disease recurred.

An excellent Sanatorium for the accommodation of tubercular patients exists on high ground adjacent to the Camp, where open air treatment on the most approved plan is carried out. There has been no epidemic of infectious disease.

B—PARCEL DEPARTMENT AND POST OFFICE.

I was instructed to enquire into some reported losses and late delivery of parcels, I took pains to examine the whole working of the departments, which was explained to me by Major Taylor, the Assistant Commandant (formerly Commandant of a V.A.D. in Sussex), and by his staff.

I visited the Post Office, the Money Order Office, and the Parcel delivery Office. I arrived at the Parcel Office just as the post bags containing the parcels were being opened and saw the method in which these were dealt with. The sealed bags were open in th presence of officials, British and German, ond the contents arranged for distribution handed over to the German crepresentatives of each Camp. After the name of the man to whom the parcel was to be delivered had been officialy noted and filed, a notice was sent to the man that a parcel awaited him when he sould call for it. The parcel was opened in the man's presence and he either signed for it as correct, or he was entitled to lodge a complaint if he objected in any way. I saw the state of the parcels as they were turned out of the post bag.

1. Some of the parcels were burst, and the contents such as flour, maize, oatmeal, nuts chocolates, tobacco, ete., partly scattered about in the post bag. These were collected in the presence of German and British Authorities, the whole wrapped up in fresh paper, tied up, and re-addressed.

2. Some of the parcels had a label, and consequently no name; the label had evidently fallen off. The Officer in charge said labels sent from private sources in Germany would not adhere to the oiled paper, nor to the canvas or felt in which the goods were enclosed, but the labels put on the parcels by the German Government authorities always did adhere, so that there was no difficulty with them. This loss of labels on privately sent parcels was a great source of trouble, as there was no hint to whom to send a parcel which was without any name to indicate for whom it was intended, The procedure by which these cases were dealt with was as follows:- Notices were put up in the several Camps, requesting any man who had had a letter stating a parcel was being sent to him, if that parcel had not been received, to come to the Post Office and state what his letter had said was in the parcel. Sometimes more than one man came and after each man had stated what he was told by letter as to the contents of the parcel was opened and the man who came nearest in his statements as to the contents of the parcel had it handed over to him, with the consent of the others which was given in writing.

Another difficulty, which is met in much the same fashion, is due to a custom amongst some of the persons interned to ask their friends to whom they write to place on the cover of the parcel a particular number in addition to attaching a label with address. It frequently happens that parcels (I saw several) arrive without the label but with a number (say 56 or 81, etc.) on the label. Affixing numbers is not done on the recommendation of the Camp authorities, but by individuals in the Camp when writing friends. It does not seem to be general amongst the interned men themselves, but is evidently only a plan of some men to give the parcel a better chance of reaching them, should the label be wanting. The system, however, is not without its drawbacks. For instance, a parcel comes without a label or address, but with a number on the wrapping material, say 81 The fact that there is a parcel with the number 81 upon it is advertised in every Camp. What can happen, and what does happen, is that several men may claim it, saying they had told their friends to put on 81 on their parcel. This complication is met by every one claiming a parcel marked 81 being called up. The claimants are asked to state what they expect the parcel to contain ; that is, what they had asked their friends specially to send to them. The claimants are then asked if they will consent that the parcel be given to the one whose statement most nearly corresponds in description to the contents. When this is agreed upon acquiescence is given in writing and signed. The parcel is then opened in the presence of the Censors (British and Alien), and of the claimants and their friends, at the Post Office; and the contents may be given to the one whose written statement most closely approximates to the contents, if all agree. Occasions arise when parcels come to the Post Office having neither a label, nor a number, nor any indication to whom it is to be delivered. In such a case the parcel is opened in the presence of a number of Aliens and British, a search is made inside for any letter or name to indicate for whom the contents are intended; if such is found the parcel is delivered; but if there is no indication to whom it belongs, the fact that an unaddressed parcel has reached the Camp is posted up in all the Camps, and anyone who has been told by letter that a parcel was being sent is asked to apply for it and produce the letter. Officials are then called together and the case dealt with. If no claimant is found, or if the claim is disproved, the parcel is wrapped up again and sent to the Central Bureau in London with the contents described ; so that should anyone claim a parcel with these contents afterwards, the parcel may be delivered.

The size of the parcel post department — some 50,000 a month — the frequency of imperfect or wrong addresses, the mischance of labels falling off, the bursting of parcels and the scattering of contents, the application of many men for faultily addressed or numbered parcels, and perhaps most of all the departure of men from the Camp — some being repatriated to their own country, some to internment Camps in England so that they may be nearer their families, etc .— tend to cause complications of the most inticate kind. To deal with these coquires the greatest judgement, tact and patience. Long experience has shown how the difficulties may best be met, but nothing is done without the consent and co-operation of the Germans engaged in the Office, who are as fully aware of all the details of the work, and of its difficulties, as are any of the British authorities.

I enquired of the Germans about the work, and they said the difficulties at times were great, sometimes almost insuperable, but that they must confess that nothing could be more fair than the methods by which the complaints were met. The number of parcels supposed to be lost, or which remained un-delivered owing to no claimant being found, amounted to only 370 since the Camp was opened. As the number of parcels exceeds half a million a year, this is a record of which ang Postal Department in civil life in time of peace my well be proud. I told some of the German head men in various departments why I had come, and for what purpose. I wore my Red Cross uniform so that the men could see that I was independent of military opinion and supervision, and I begged them to tell me of any hardship, neglect or other grievance which they had, or might have heard of from any of the Camp inmates They usually smiled and said "We know who these are that make complaints ; they are the lazy 'rotters' that lie about all day and do nothing; and are discontented with themselves and all around them ; they were the same in civil life before they ever were interned in the Camp."

Some cases of Complaint are due to roguery.. The following is an example. A certain number of undervests are served out yearly at stated intervals. A man receives an undervest with the others, sells it to a neighbour and in fourteen days returns and asks for another. On it appearing that he had obtained and signed for one fourteen days ago he is informed that he cannot have another. The case is enquired into, and if it proved he lost it, or that it was stolen or destroyed in the wash, he given another. If, however, it is found that he sold it he is not allowed another unless he buys it. Such a man may write to his friends that he is not being suffiently clothed, and so a scandal begins which is passed on and exaggerated until by the time it reaches the International Red Cross Committee in Switzerland the affair has become of alarming dimensions. All this is inseparable from internment Camp, administration.

CONCLUSIONS.

I can assure the British Red Cross Society that the Officials in charge of the Camp are not neglectful, indifferent, or careless, that they take a keen pride in the the Knockaloe Camp, in its freedom from disease, in its organisation, and especially in its Postal department, where an undelivered parcel is considered to be a slight upon the efficiency of the department. No pains are spared in seeing that the owner of any un-addressed parcel is found and fairly dealt with.

REMARKS.

I can only add my admiration of every department of the work in this Camp, whether it be Administration, Medical and Sanitary, Postal, Recreation, Work, or the general care of the healthy and the sick. Complaints come from those men who will not work; but this is the rule all the world over, as one of the interned Germans remarked to me.

I wish to express my indebtedness and sincere thanks for the facilities granted and information given me by H.E. the Governor, Lord Raglan, C.B. Mr. B. E. Sargeaunt, O.B.E., Government Secretary and Treasurer, most ungrudgingly devoted himself to promote the enquiry I had in hand, The Camp Commandant, the Assistant Commandant, Major Taylor and Major Cowle, were untiring in efforts to show the working of the Camp in every possible department. And, lastly, I would wish to add a word of thanks to the several aliens interned in the Camp, who favoured me with most courteous and intelligent assistance during my visit.

Yours faithfully,
JAMES CANTLIE, M.B., F.R.C.S., D.P.H., Member of Council of British Red Cross Society, Commandant, No, 1 V.A.D., London.

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