COMPENSATION of £76 - just 4p a day - for years of suffering by former prisoners of war has split the ranks of Fylde's old soldiers.

It's not enough, says Fylde councillor Eric Bamber, whose Japanese Labour Camp Survivors' Association wants to use the Japanese Emperor's visit to Britain in May to highlight its campaign for substantial compensation before all its members die.

It's all we'll get, says Reg Dunne, vice-president of the National Federation of Far Eastern Clubs which plans to ignore the Emperor's visit and settle for the £76.50 received in 1951 under the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

Hundreds of Fylde men were Japanese POWs - the survivors, now nearing their 80s, suffered lifelong ill-health after a horrendous 3 years in prison camps or slaving on the infamous Burma railway.

But Mr Dunne, of Mere Road, Blackpool, says: "Our federation will ignore the Emperor's visit out of respect for the Queen, and will have nothing to do with fighting for compensation.

"We received £76.50 in 1951 - at that time the Japanese had no money - you couldn't get blood out of a stone, their country was devastated.

"In our opinion we don't stand a chance of getting any more. The Japanese have right on their side in that they did pay this money."

In contrast, ex-Fylde mayor Coun Bamber, who weighed under six stone on his return from Changi jail with malaria, dengue fever, ulcers, dermatitis and jungle sores, said he was infuriated: "I've been fighting for this for the last 50 years.

"Men who survived were just walking bags of bones, they still suffer nightmares and all kinds of ill-health.

"If they think 4p a day is what we are worth , then it's not very much at all.

"I would be more than happy if I could get onto a representation to meet either the Emperor or his staff to put our case. The British government needs to be far more forceful.

"All they're doing is playing a waiting game, if they wait long enough we'll all die."

His association's chairman Arthur Titherington was today in a Tokyo court fighting for the right to sue the Japanese government.

Depending on the result, the association plans to take some form of action during the Emperor's visit.

Meanwhile, Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden is pressing the Japanese government to set up a trust fund to help international victims of torture, past and present.

Last year Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto conveyed to Tony Blair "deep remorse and heartfelt apology" for what happened during the war.

He also announced finance for memorial visits by ex-POWs to cemeteries and battle-grounds, and scholarships for their grandchildren to study in Japan for a year.

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