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When in Victoria Stay at

HOTEL ST. JAMES AND
APARTMENTS
*
The Second Largest and Most
Popular Hotel in Victoria

With Compliments

B. P. S. C.

1218 Langley Street
VICTORIA, B. C.

*

With Compliments and
Good Wishes °
to the
B. C. PROVINCIAL POLICE
from

A FRIEND
*

EXIDE BATTERIES Phone E-6432

B. R. CICERI & CO.

Vancouver Island Distributors for

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Limited

847 Yates Street VICTORIA, B.C.

Movie and Siill
Photographic Supplies and
Equipment
Distinctive Developing
Printing and Enlarging

Victoria Photo Supply

LIMITED
1015 Douglas Victoria, B.C.

Vancouver Photo Supply

LIMITED

131 Howe St. Vancouver, B.C.

Page Eight

cm rn aN RT IR net

The Japs couldn't have picked a more
forbidding looking place for our incarcera-
tion. Someone remarked that it looked like
Newgate prison.

The camp consisted of two three-storied
brick buildings and the windows on the
upper stories were fitted with iron grills.
A compound averaging 10 feet in width
surrounded the buildings.

The premises had an overall length of
about 500 feet, so you can imagine the
amount of outdoor space available for a
thousand and eighty-seven men to walk
about in!

When we arrived at the camp we were
assembled in the mess hall where we were
addressed by a 25-year old Japanese Com-
mandant. In typical Japanese manner he
barked:

“The Japanese government in the interest

of the allied nationals has seen fit for the -

benefit of your own safety to assemble you
in Civil Assembly centres. You will not be
molested if you obey the rules of the camp.
However, if any person attempts to escape
from the confines of the camp he will be
shot!”

He wound up his remarks by telling us
that the Japanese Consulate had suggested
that the assembly centre should be named
the “Happy Gardens”!

There were 20 men in our section and
we thought ourselves lucky to get a room
75 feet in length and about 40 feet in width.
The only catch was that about another 100
men had also been allotted space in the
same room. Fortunately a number of men
who had been interned a week previous to
us had measured the room and we were
each given a space in which to put our bed.
The average space per person was 28 square
feet including bed space.

When we had time to take in our sur-
roundings and had glanced at the other
rooms we considered ourselves lucky. In
one room the beds were jammed tightly to-
gether and the only way you could get into
one was over the foot of it. It was a com-
fort that the weather was cool, but we
shuddered to think what it would be like
in a few months time when the hot spell
set in. The crowded condition of each
room gave us food for thought.

No bedding was supplied by the Japanese,
and the medicine in the camp was donated
by British and American relief societies.
The instruments used by the doctors and
dentists were their own personal property
and the only articles the Japs allowed them
to bring into camp. Rumour had it that the
camp was infested with tobacco bugs and
bed bugs; this was the only true rumour I
ever heard in the camp.

Sanitary conditions were deplorable;
there were 35 wash basins and seven show-
ers for a thousand men and the big problem
every day was how to get a wash. Luckily,
there was an abundance of fresh water, a
condition that didn’t exist in many of the
other camps.

Then came the big moment of the day
our first meal. We won’t forget it. It con-
sisted of a piece of fish about three inches
square and some of the most anemic look-

“THE METROPOLIS”

VICTORIA’S POPULAR-PRICED HOTEL

ROOMS ALWAYS AVAILABLE FOR VISITORS
FROM OUTSIDE POINTS
Mrs. J. L. Gates, Proprietress 712 Yates St.

VICTORIA, B.C.

Gorge Hotel

A. Mawer, Manager

pve
“The Home of Comfort”
LICENSED PREMISES.

ove

Tillicum Road VICTORIA, B. C.

Furniture Moving
General Delivery

Phone G 7823
BRAY’S TRANSFER

LIMITED
Hauling Contractors

Storage

Light and Heavy Trucks for Hire on
Short Notice.
Licensed Limited Freight Carriers to
All Vancouver Island Points.

721 Johnson St. Victoria, B.C.

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WILFRED GIBSON
PHOTOGRAPHER
WE SPECIALIZE IN MILITARY PHOTOS
Phone E6221
770 Fort Street near Blanshard
VICTORIA, B. C.

Also at Duncan, B. C.

Royal Dairy Lid.

Ice Cream Manufacturers

707 View Street
VICTORIA

THE SHOULDER STRAP