GERMAN PRISONERS
Another hundred German prisoners arrived at Evesham on Tuesday, and they are being housed at Badsey Manor House and are available to work in that district. There are now 420 in the Evesham district and a further 80 are expected shortly at Craycombe. We are assured in respect of the correspondence on the subject of the price paid for German labour, which appeared in our columns last week that there has been no displacement of local labour through the employment of German prisoners and that there are as a matter of fact applications for no less than 900 prisoners. With regard to wages paid we are informed that 5d per hour has always been paid for some of the prisoners and that masters have to pay the full wage to those men who are engaged in cooking meals for the whole gang. Employers have to go to the expense of conveying prisoners to and from their work. Mr F R Pearson, of Peopleton, takes strong exception to Mr Masters’ letter and denies masters prefer prisoner labour because it is cheaper. Mr Pearson says he finds German prisoner labour the most expensive he ever employed.