asked the Secretary of State for War the amount paid in cash and credit to a German prisoner of war working as an agricultural labourer for whom the farmer pays £4 10s. per week into Army funds.

On the assumption that the prisoner works 48 hours a week and is qualified for the full bonuses given to good workmen, he receives 9s. in token money and 6s. bonus credit.

Does my right hon. Friend really think that is adequate or that a great many people in this country would put up with those conditions?

We can hardly apply trade union regulations to a matter of this sort, and I would remind my hon. Friend that the cost to the Army for these purposes includes housing, feeding, clothing, medical and hospital treatment, guards and administrative staff, and that means that we have very little margin to play with.

Does not my right hon. Friend think that this really amounts to semi-slave labour?

I should not think that the employment of prisoners of war amounted to slave labour. It is quite in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

Will the right hon. Gentleman issue in the OFFICIAL REPORT a detailed account of the difference between the amount paid by the farmer to the War Office, and the amount paid by the War Office to the prisoners of war, and will he show who makes the profit?

These figures have in fact been disclosed.

Is it not a fact that there has never been any complaint about the general treatment of prisoners of war and that a good British farmworker is worth four Germans on the farms of Britain?