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There can be no doubt that the Major knew that he had no right to put civilian internees to work against their will. He proved this by making the Emden & Planet people work during the strike as they were proper prisoners of war. Funny the remark of one seaman:
Here we let ourselves be fooled by the guy [the Major] for 9 months and all the while we had so many educated people among us.
Indeed, if I hadn’t witnessed the whole affair myself, I would find it hard to believe. Military discipline is not exactly a virtue here. A month ago about 100 men of the Light Horse Cavalry simply decamped, and another 80 men recently deserted from the troops that were to be shipped off to Europe, that is, they just refused to go to the front. Some
had to appear in court where they were given a choice between 1 year in prison or going to the front, upon which one of the deserters is said to have said: [original in English] “Damn
it, Judge, go to the front yourselves, I take my 12 months’ imprisonment.”