GERMAN SPIES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8270, 15 October 1915, Page 3

GERMAN SPIES.

ASTONISHING ACCOUNTS

BERLIN'S UNIVERSAL SYSTEM.

There is. no limit to the ■; audacious masqueradings of tIW German spies (writes the ;iiohdou rcprrfßspor^entiofca (Sydney paper). >v A, French officei 1-' whom I met; said'.tbat last week',a; German spy had been foundin the ranks of one i of his battalions. French officers could not understand how it. was that, the Germans got information of their intentions and movements. It was a wounded man who crawled-back to the trench on© night who solved the mystery. He had seen strange flashings from his trench, which he soon guessed meant that someone was signalling > with a lamp. He managed to reach the , trench at a point distant from the j place where the supposed spy was working, and informed an officer.'lt--was ithen found that the spy had struck on the extremely ingenious plan of placing j an electric lamp in the muzzle pi' His rifle, which protruded from the trench, ' and so conveyed information to the i enemy. The Canadian contingents have ex-periencki-'the utmost difficulty in purging themselves of spies. On several of their transports these persons have been found when crossing tho- Atlantic, perfecting for the committal of i wholesale slaughter on the high sea. j Some of them, more cautious, managed j to disguise their, hostility until they were .actually in training in , ; a do&rf||6ii":::y:m6re • ] suspicious;,- i^'Mientß,'.. the^n :W?(ssiisdt them: ou&/; cßiitV^rtfiis£riot '•■ afc M .thas some of .fch^e; gentry vigorbusly^ipi-afcti6r;; ing- their profession amongst the Ganat- i dians in France. In fact, it; would appear to be well-nigh impossible to ex-! terminate the multitude of spies which | Gerniany employs. The only thing to 1 do it to keep on detecting them, and thus reduce their harmful industry. > Atithis mpment/thererare,obviously secret. societies at work which are financed by German funds, Trith the object of embarrassing Great-Britain in her war work. The tortuous maze of. German intrigue has not been fully explored. Daily there are new revelations. Mysterious incidents and epidemics of fires in munition centres,oosn s nitrate ships and in cotton factories,, houses prepared for incendiarism in connection with "air craft raids, the apparent leakage of naval and military information to Germany, the extraonlinai'y acquaintance of submarine commanders with the 'movements of our mercantile marine, must.be move than coincidences. And on top of all these we have

a peace campaign, in which-the. cranks and faddists are in full blast as the ready tools of a snbtie and well-organ-ised foe. Various .societies have suddenly sprung into existence for the purpose of promoting peace. Some of them may be .termed religious societies, who- would deeply resent any suggestion that they were opposed to Britain's interests. Others are. under different auspices, but all are playing the German game. There is an active propaganda to "Stop-the-War." One society is actively canvassing -people who are' likely to inve,st in the war loan/ and is advising them not' to do so.'Another is pleading with men, when they sign the national register next month, to add a memorandum to the effect that they decline Ito tak-e part in military service or assist in the production of materials the purposo of which is to take life. A | third society has been detected exorcising a pernicious influence with young I oligibles at recruiting meetings. Its ', agents head them off and put a prb- , German view before their hesitating ' minds, while pro-German sheets, masquerading as English papers published I by Englishmen in English in .'Berlin, 1 are being distributed broadcast. The Home Office does not for a moment believe that it has tripped up all the Kaiser's emissaries in the United Kingdom. If it were sufficiently foolish to^ mislead itself in this way, theYe would still be the German press babbh'ng incautiously, and thus revealing the unwearied persistence of the German espionage department. Though not a single Teuton | hope respecting rebellion in Ireland has come true, the German press still "be- | lieves that it could foment treason [ amongst tho Irish. "If," says .the , "Cologne Gazette," "the minds of the 1 Irish - people could bo reached by the' ' cold'logic'.of facts,.'if America could \'sparo a, sufficient number, of, her most intelligent and ' cultured ' citizens | -of \ German' ancestry to propagate among that people true ideas of liberty" and 1 equality, they would soon come to see that there is nothing so well calculated 1 to further the Irish cause as the establishment of intimate relations between Ireland and Germany. Ireland can win ■Jier freedom.only from the triumph'of Germany and Austria. Therefore let the prayer ascend daily in every Irish household, 'God bless Germany, God save Ireland. 5 " The "Financial News""is resoonsible for the statement that £GO.OOO"of Ger-' man- money was spent to clew up a South Wales coal mine."" The men who are ont on strike indignantly deny that their views have been hewn for them with German gold. Nevertheless, impartial observers',., haye 1 V- noticed many I indications of extraneous' influences of a subterraneous character, v which will be attributed to Teuton machinations until the contrary is demonstrated. According to the official published

I.- ...-■■ ■■-.•-..., ,■ ■■■■■> ■■/■ • : German public accounts, £1,000,000 a : year was appropriated to carry "put this . I sytematised; demoralisation, of" part:- of the population of the countries against 1 whom Germany harboured designs of ' conquest. The chief spy had under his j command an army oi 10,000 men, who were di.vlribnted along the frontiers of France and Belgium, where they could be most helpful to Germany and most j debilitating and dangerous to France ' (and Belgium. During the past year it has been ascertained,,that the German j system reaches to ihk uttermost' parts / of.' the earth, 1 and' it- 'is' r not therefore , surprising if" Australia\has come within the ambit of the, universal spy depart- \ ment. The marvel is rather that, with l ' the opportunities they have had, the Kaiser's agents have wrought so little '. mischief in our Commonwealth. The Australian officers whom I have mentioned are sleeping more soundly because they'know that their countrymen will now be on ihe look-out for pos- | sible spies, and they will return to the front feeling more confident that the secret of their plans will not be shared !by the enemy. By the way, the first • party .of convalescent Australians will 1 return to the, Dardanelles from Wey- ' mouth this week. Those who are still in hospital are progressing splendidly. Steps are being' taken to concentrate all our wounded at two or three central i hospitals. The men very grievously complain about the restrictions which, are imposed upon them in some of the j English hospitals. Canadians have given 'voice to the same complaint*. It is an i axiom amongst the quasi-military staff who run English hospitals thai the | colonials sadly need disciplining. They seized the oportunity of their com- | parative helplesness to make our men suffer those compulsions and restrictions which irk them .most. Tbw is don© • with the very best intentions, - t Dut wjth , 'this worst possible', consequences., ]t,AriU s ' be'better - for ■ ,the ; Eriglishv hospitals- • when our men are' out 'of, them, >and-, ' better still' for' our men' when, itisy are ' in Australian-controlled hospitals, in which Australian idiosyncrasies are fully understood.