_Mr. Minot to Mr. Gerard._ June 3, 1915. Sir,—I have the honour to submit to you the following report upon various improvements which have taken place in the civil internment camp for British prisoners at Ruhleben-bei-Spandau since the month of November, 1914: Of the 4,500 British civil prisoners interned in Germany, approximately 4,000 are at this date held at Ruhleben, the remaining 500 being scattered in small detachments in various other internment camps. The German Government have arranged that these detachments shall be absorbed by Ruhleben, so that within a few months all the British civil prisoners interned in Germany will be in Ruhleben. The difficulty of enlarging the facilities of Ruhleben and the necessary precautionary measures of quarantining have made the process of combination a long one, but there is every reason to believe that it will soon be completed. The increase in the number of prisoners at Ruhleben has necessitated substantial additions to the barracks, most of which were overcrowded at the beginning of the war. Eight new barracks of one storey have been erected (four being already occupied), affording accommodation for 120 men each. These barracks are substantially built of wood, with well-set floors and large windows. The roofs have been waterproofed with tarred paper, and the walls stained to resist the rain.[22] In the four new barracks which are now occupied a small room for the guard has been added, but in the new barracks this has been considered unnecessary, as it is hoped that the guards in the barracks at night may shortly be dispensed with. The last new barracks has been built with a special view towards housing convalescent or delicate persons. Partitions have been erected so as to cut up the barrack into small divisions, and two water-closets have been installed. A new washhouse for these barracks has been erected, with shower baths and washing troughs. The construction of the new barracks, the transfer of some hundred persons to Dr. Weiler’s sanatorium, and the release of about a hundred persons have made it possible largely to reduce the crowded conditions of the “obens,” or lofts, of the old barracks. Twenty per cent. of the occupants of these “obens” have been removed, and it is estimated that when the new barracks are fully occupied another 55 per cent. will be removed from the obens, so that only a quarter of the original occupants will be left there.