r SeaeceeumuaneendSancintnints rd EYRE PS SEED NT ONE NT TI I Se 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. i H | | | | 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