Italians in Arms Factories
The War Office has denied a statement published in some papers that commandants of prisoners-of-war camps had been instructed to prepare lists of Italian prisoners skilled in various trades. It is possible that the reports were merely premature and that an affirma- tive decision may soon be reached by the War Office and the Ministry of Labour. Indeed, Lord Munster stated in the House of Lords on Tuesday that the possibility of employing Italians in various industries was under consideration. Common sense dic- tates that this considerable reserve of labour, some of it skilled, should be put to good use in relief of our own overstrained man- power. Since Italy has ceased to be an enemy and is styled a co-belligerent there is nothing under the terms of the Geneva Con- vention to prevent the employment of Italian prisoners in arms factories. It is obvious that this country must be put to the necessity of maintaining most of them until the greater part of Italy is freed. It is not likely that they will be restored to the Italian Government for use as soldiers, and at present the majority of them cannot be repatriated. Italians are good engineers and mechanics, as we can judge by the excellence of their Fiat cars and their achievements in the Schneider Cup contests. Among the prisoners there must be thousands of skilled technicians who could be usefully engaged in war industry in replacement of men now reserved. Safeguards would, of course, be necessary, but there is no difficulty about that.
Previous page
