MAN WHO CAUGHT SPIES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21701, 7 February 1936, Page 12

MAN WHO CAUGHT SPIES

ADMIRAL HALL VISITS NEW ZEALAND

FAMOUS INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

[THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, February # 6. Wearing a yachting cap and comfortable clothes, a man who during the war was a terror to spies, Admiral Sir Reginald Hall, R.N-, K.C.M.G., arrived in Auckland by the tourist ship Otranto from Brisbane yesterday. Now retired, his chief hobby is gardening at his home near the New Forest. No one walking the deck, of the Otranto would have picked the man with silvery hair and a cheery demeanour who, according to passengers making the round trip, will be greatly missed for his companionship, as a former director of the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty war staff. This is the man, however, who during the war was probably the repository of more German secrets than any other Englishman.

Admiral Hall's emissaries were active in every corner of the world. He was a terror to German agents and spies who came within his well-spread net. Nearly every notorious spy came under his spell sooner or later, among them a man who landed in Ireland in a collapsible boat from a submarine, Sir Roger Casement, who attempted to organise an Irish brigade among t,he prisoners of war in Germany, and Captain Franz von Rintelen, who used millions of dollars in plotting against America, and was 'captured in a British port on his way to Germany. Captain von Rintelen was present last year at the wedding of Admiral Hall's daughter, and the admiral and his former adversary exchange reminiscences. The admiral tracked down the submarine commanders who were the greatest menace at sea, and could account for a great percentage of the sunken U-boats which harassed British shipping. Asked what his present activities were Admiral Hall said gardening at his home was his main hobby, but he evaded the question whether he was still working in any official capacity. The New Forest, of 90,000 acres, he said, provided him with all the recreation he wanted. Admiral Hall is now 66 years of age.* For 36 years he served in the navy. He was the first-captain of the battle cruiser "Queen Mary, and commanded that vessel in the action in the Heligoland Bight on August 28, 1914. While he was captain of the Natal he was presented by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, in 1911, on behalf of the underwriters and owners, with a silver centrepiece in recognition of his gallantry and resource on the occasion when the Celtic Race was nearly lost off Pembrokeshire. After his retirement, from naval service in 1918, Admiral Hall member of the House of Commons- for 10 years, representing first the Liverpool sea*, and then Eastport. : ,;,"' : *' " --*--, —-.._