The exchange of certain classes of French, Belgian, and German prisoners, totaling about 330,000, began on May 15, 1918, in accordance with an agreement arranged at Berne, Switzerland, by a conference of French and German delegates held there from April 2 to April 26, and later ratified by both Governments. It was announced at the same time that Italy had completed a similar arrangement. The news of the Franco-German agreement came as a complete surprise to Great Britain and the other allies, and aroused an instant demand for negotiations looking to a release of British prisoners on similar terms. There was a tendency in some quarters to criticise the French Government for its separate action in the matter. After a lively debate on the subject in the House of Commons on May 28, Lord Newton, head of the Prisoners of War Department, stated that the British Government had "already entered into negotiations with the German Government with a view to arranging a wide scheme of exchange, following, broadly speaking, the agreement recently concluded between France and Germany." On the same day a dispatch from Holland announced that both the British and German Governments had informed the Netherlands Government that they wished to send delegates to The Hague shortly to discuss matters relating to the exchange of prisoners. TOTALS OF PRISONERS Between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 prisoners have been taken on both sides since the beginning of the war. The latest exact figures on the subject were published in the Summer of 1917, when the Central Powers held 2,874,271 prisoners, and the Entente Allies held a total of 1,284,050. Germany alone had 1,690,731 prisoners, including 17,474 officers; Austria-Hungary, 1,092,055; Bulgaria, 67,582, and Turkey, 23,903, a total of 2,874,271, of whom 27,620 are officers. This total was made up of the following nationalities: Total In Number. Germany. Russian 2,080,699 1,212,007 French 368,607 367,124 Serbian 154,630 25,879 Italian 98,017 Rumanian 79,033 10,157 British 45,241 33,129 Belgian 42,437 42,435 Montenegrin 5,607 The British prisoners of war not in Germany were divided between Bulgaria and Turkey. The prisoners of the Allies, not including 40,000 Austrians and Bulgarians captured by the Serbians and now in Italy or 20,000 Turkish prisoners in Egypt, were distributed as follows: Total In In In In Number. Engl'd. France. Russia. Italy. German 594,050 85,000 259,050 250,000 Austr'n 630,000 550,000 80,000