Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-28
STORIES OF THE WAR
Clearing House for Prisoners.

From a picturesque though little known village on the upper Danube, Mauthausen, has become the clear ing house. in Austria for Italian pris- oners of war. -
 Its peace-time population of a few hundred persons has grown to the size of small city. and each month there pass through it, with a three weeks stop for quarantine purposes, several thousand Italian soldiers and several hundred Italian officers.
 The town consists of group of picturesque houses, a church or two and an ancient palace that slings to the edge of the Danube. What may be called the new city consists of acres upon acres of white-washed barracks, holding in all when full 42,000 soldiers.
 There were only some eight or ten thousand Italian soldiers interned in the ''city" when The Associated Press correspondent arrived to pay the camp a visit. Two days earlier there had been 25,000 but the greater part Of them had been sent out along their way-tO permanent camps in eastern Austria and Hungary.
 Daily there arrive at Mauthausen some 5000 bulky parcels or love gifts" from relatives and friends in Italy. The banking and bookkeeping g OI the CdI1iD HdS I9 llIIl- tain a ledger with something over il 000 running bank accounts, the total of which far exceeds a million crowns. Each prisoner. wherever he may be, is permitted to possess ten crowns a week for canteen spending money. All that he receives from home over that goes into his account. The actual handling of cash devolves upon Aus trian officers; the bookkeeping is done by Italian prisoners of war, who are honestly and accurately administered.
 So long as he stays in Mauthausen, which may be for year if his con- duct is good, the Italian soldier is offered the privileges of a school in which illiterates are taught to read and write and in which the better ed ucated may take courses in German, in English and in other useful sub jects. If so inclined he may take up painting and wood carving and sculp- ture. He will be furnished the ma teriasl his product" will be sold at 9 price not under minimum set by himself, and he will be given the bal ance between sales price and cost of materials. Or he can enter either the stringed orchestra, or the brass band.
 The correspondent saw an exhibf- tior of one of the half dozen fire com pa composed wholly of Italians, " larded the camp from a possi- D .Hagration, and who as a matter
  the wooden construction, down to two barracks and no loss Of life. Fire prevention is further aided by high fire tower in the center of the camp, on which two men constantly stand guard with a horn to warn of a blaze and a flag to indicate it's direction.
 The colonel of the camp led the correspondent through the wash rooms huge barracks fitted with showers and heated in winter time, or equipped with rows of faucets for washing hands and faces-and through the liv- ing barracks. The latter are large and roomy-and very clean-far bet ter than any the correspondent had seen in the course of visits to camps in other countries.
 The hospital section of the camp is one of the best in Austria, in cleanli- ness and equipment. It is the col oners boast that there never has been an epidemic of any character, that only such diseases as were brought by the men have ever been encountered and that there have been a large num- Der of cures. Deaths occur regular ly, as in any large community, but now the cause Is chiefly tuberculosis of ancient standing among the pris- oners.
 Since the wounded as well as the well often come to Mauthausen the camp has met the need for artificial limbs by creating a little factory for manufacturing these grim implements, and up to date has turned out about 150 and trained the war victims to use them.