GERMAN SPIES IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 18 April 1917, Page 5

GERMAN SPIES IN AUSTRALIA

WHAT HAS COME TO LIGHT

ACTIVITIES IN WAR TIME

The extent to which attempts were made before the war to increase German, influence in Australia, and to obtain knowledge of Australian conditions which might at a be used to advantage to promote German settlement, can scarcely be realised. Information that has come into the possession of the Australian authorities (states the Melbourne correspondent of the L "Sydney Morning Herald") throws light upon methods adopted to place the German Government in possession of the most minute particulars about the, adaptability of Western Australia tor German settlement,' and the information further indicates that- even since the war.broke out the Germans have not ■ relaxed their propaganda efforts. On the contrary,, every, opportunity has been seized- to get into the closest touch with German residents in Australia, and even with thosa interned in segregation, camp's, but, wily as were the methods employed by the German authorities to place themselves in communication with their interned compatriots, the vigiJanco of the Australian authorities has been such that their schemes were one after the ether unmasked. ■ •■■

; Commencing with what happened just before the war. A detailed, report from one of the German missionaries on the north-west coast of Westem Australia to a society called "The Society for the Protection of Germans Abroad" was intercepted. The report consists of answers ,to interrogatories, and is headed "strictly 'confidential." The first questions related to the country towns, provinces, etc., upon .whicn the missionary was able to give precise information. Joseph Bischofs, a missionary of the Pallotiner congregation, Limburg, Prussia, a resident in the north-ivest of Australia at Broome, replied that he had been nine years in Australia. Asked if he was prepared *)■ answer inquiries confidentially, the missionary stated that as far as lie could ho would be pleased to place himself at the society's disposal'. Then came minute replies to questions .aDoiit stock, fruit/ cultivation, and' wages generally, and also about pearl-fishing. One question was,Vif the missionary' could" send any kind of photographs, and to this- the -reply was, "Perhaps, later." There was a . German club, the missionary stated, at Fremantle,' and there were several German hotels in Perth andFremantle, the tariff being indioated. "Are there correct maps.of your town, your country..provinces, etc.?" . The missionary's reply to this question was that the best charts of the coast could be obtained from tlio Harbour and Lights Department at' Fremantle, whilst maps of the country generally were obtainablo from the Department of Lands and Surveys in Perth. In all 60 questions were answered, all treating in, the most intimate manner with the physical and •commercial attributes of the districts in which the missionary resides. To each* and every question full replies wore given. This report was dated July.".lo, 1914.

Sohemers at Work. It appears' that, in an incautious moment, long before the war, .according to information in possession of the Defenoe Department, a German representative in, Australia remarked .to an Australian. officer tliat Australia was making very little use of the north-west coast of Western Australia, and that it would suit admirably as a, German' settlement. The report; of which extracts aro now published, clearly indicates, the steps that were taken, subsequent to- this conversation, • by the German Government to supplement the information already' in its possession about the north-west coast: Other information in the possession of the .Australian authorities indicates that the doings of Australian business men were followed in the closest detail. It is also known to the 'Australian authorities that the local offices of great companies, such as those interested in metals, potash, etc., were agencies for collecting and sending to Germany information of Australian resources. A great steamship companywas, for intelligence purposes, nothing else than a branch of the German Admiralty. Some of the German schools in Australia were, it has been ascertained by the Commonwealth authorities, ,used in connection with the granting of exemption from service in the German army. In the various centres an official representative of the German Consul-General in Sydney was appointed. ' In one case the representative was,a pastor, a member of a branch of the Prussian National 'Church, .who, with other pastors of his Church, received part of his stipend from Germany. This man, an Ausr traliah by birth although of German parentage, was interned after the outbreak of the'war, and in his possession were found many treasonable documents. , The Germany Press organisation has been found to be most accurate in sending to Germans and persons of German descent in Australia news ' favourable to the enemy cause. From Holland, Switzerland, and America, leaflets and publications continue to arrive, usually in English, in which under cover of neutrality, pro-German views are expressed. Enemy agents abroad are making constant efforts to send news and messages surreptitiously to prisoners of war interned in Australia. A packet of cigarettes addressed to a prisoner was opened by chance aiid was found to contain nine cigarettes of tobacco and one , of rolled newspaper cuttings. A large packet from the Philippines contained boxes of excellent Manila cigars, but in one box the cigars were all of paper. A box v of walnuts came from Java. When tho censor opened it.one fell out, and broke," disclosing that the inside had been taken out and the shell stuffed with paper cuttings. "All the others were then cracked, and in; all of them were newspaper cuttings. Apart from all these devices, letters, and newspapers, which appear to contain nothing but what is visible, 'are used lor writing in an invisible medium, tin:, secret of which is known to'the receiver. Probably tho censors know as much of these devices as the prisoners. In one district a German agent, after the outbreak of war, endeavoured to organise tho ■, German population in readiness foY military operations. He interviewed the Germans i;; their own houses, and in some cases interviewed congregations as they were leaving church. He met with little success, but a fow received him favourably. The Defence Department was well informed of what was going on, and he and those who were ready to help him are all safe behind the wires. ■Yet another striking example of Him duplicity is furnisued in a circular issued by Herr von Putt Kamcr, German Minister of tho Interior, to secret service agents, in January, 1914, of which the following is a translation :— "Our agents at fixed posts must not content themselves with holding salaried positions; they might lose'such positions at any moment. Each one must bo obliged to keep some kind of office, whatever the nature of the_ establishment, whether it is a. disputed claims office or land and property agency, -grocery establishment or'cafe, restaurant, hotel, insurance office, or the like. In all cases the business must -be soundly established and possess a substantial goodwill. It must, in fact,

be ever borno in mind that it is necessary for our 1 agents to inspire confidence in oiroles where they have their centre of action, and tsi create that confidence by the outward signs of an ordinary middle-class existence. Indeed, by a well-placed munificence, and by taking part in all kinds of societies, associations, and communities, they must acquire such a strong social position that, as far as their locality is concerned, each may bo welT received everywhere and highly thought of in allquarters, and may be thus 'ajpays in a position to give useful information on- ! all points."