SPIES AND THE LAW.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 95, 19 October 1910, Page 2

SPIES AND THE LAW.

THE NEED FOR STRICTER MEASURES. Ifc is perfectly well known to theWar Office and Admiralty that in the last four years there has been a very marked increase in the number of the foreign secret service agents in England, says a writer in the London Daily Mail. A fair number of these agents are known to the British authorities, and yet no steps have been taken to deal with them. They come and go as they like. Some examples of their work may be set forth. In 1906, on the eve of the launch, of the Dreadnought, a photograph of certain important details of that ship, then a State secret most jealously guarded, appeared in a German naval journal. No British photographer had been, permitted to photograph the ship. Enquiries were made, and the only conclusion seemed that the leakage occurred in the Admiralty itself, whence the photograph had been abstracted. Shortly after this occurred an amazing incident.' A party of German officers in mufti held a staff ride in the eastern counties. The object of a staff ride is to reconnoitre the terrain for military operations, and it need scarcely be said that for soldiers to have personally examined the ground on which they may. have to fight or manoeuvre confers a great advantage on them. This performance attracted some attention, and the War Office was informed of it. But no action was taken by the Government to stoengthen tne law and render such proceedings impracticable and dangerous. SPIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. The staff ride of the German officers took place about the same time as one carried out by British, officers of the Navy and Army. The news of this British staff ride leaked out beforehand and aroused great interest amopg the numerous foreign waiters employed in the eastern counties hotels at which the party was to stay. To get rid of their attentions and prevent the intrusion of other foreign and uninvited guests it was found necessary to engaged the entire accommodation of these hotels and to employ only British servants for the time being. Even so, a German who who called himself a photographer, and who had settled in one of the small towns visited, showed such curiosity as to the doings of the British officers as to bring himself under the observation of the military authorities. Enquiries were made as to his history, which practically established the fact that he was a, spy,, and also incidentally showed that the whole area of the eastern counties were qovered by similar agents. The number of Germans visiting and examining the eastern counties, reconnoitring their roads, inspecting the land-ing-places, and hovering round the rare fortifications which exist has, indeed, for the past four years excited local curiosity. Near the works in Epping Forest the presence of such a party was notified by a patriotic hotel-keeper to the Foreign Office, but. without any other result than the despatch of a detective officer to make investigations. He intimated to the owner of the house where they were staying the real nature of these "visitors," when the party disappeared. A question was asked about tseir doings in Parliament, but the topic was regarded by Ministers as one meet for a display of indifferent humour. In 1908 a fresh, incident occurred. The secret drawings of the. new Dreadnought cruiser Indomitable disappeared. No one had the" slightest doubt where they had gone. Exactly how they were stolen has never been explained, andMr. M'Kenna stated in Parliament that it would not be to the public to disclose the facts. About the same time Mr. Asquith was pressed to introduce fresh /legislation to deal with espionage, and declined, on the ground that it was neither necessary nor practicable. ] THE NAVAL PORTS. At all the naval ports foreign secret service agents are known to be stationed. At Portsmouth a few years ago the number was at least four, but this has recently been raised to ten or more. Sheerness is watched with equal or even greater vigilance. A number of German naval officers are in the habit of staying in the Isle of Wight, every summer, and it is on© of our service jokes that a branch of the Germain Admiral Staff is located there, in full sight of the greatest British naval base. From their point of vantage these gentlemen are able to. observe the manoeuvres of the British submarines and to keep in close touch with_ all that goes on in Portsmouth, amd in the present state of our law they, are guilty of no offence. When thje boom at Sbeemess was tested on a recent occasion before a naval and military committee, a member of the committee noticed that a man was. taking a careful series of snapshots of the booms a<nd hawsers-. The man in question was a foreigner, who described himself as a hairdresser, and who lived in the town. Yet he was left at perfect liberty to take what photographs he liked. In 1909 a foreigner was arrested sketching a fort at Lough Swilly, a secondary naval base in the north of Irelanid. The .easy-going authorities allowed him to escape. If the knowledge obtained by secret agents is of value in war, it goes without saying that aaiy Government charged with the duty of national defence should make th© work of hostile foreign agents within its tarritories as difficult as possible. Espionage there will always be; nor can we complain of tho fact. But while on th© Contimeriit. every precaution is taken to hamper the work of spies, and their punishment 'is "most sever© if they be detected, in England there are practically no precautions at. all. GERMAN RESTRICTIONS AND ENGLISH. A British subject who visits Germany ,must give his name, address, profession, place from which he comes and place to which he goes., at each point where he makes any stay. If he gives untruthful particulars he commits an offence, and will promptly attract the attention of the police. A, British, officer in the Army, Nawy, or Territorials must not -visit Germany . without notifying th© German authorities. A stranger in ajny of the important German fortresses is at once marked, aaid if the slightest suspicion ie entertained he is followed, watched, and required to leave the country. Citizens are required by la.w to notify the poJice of any suspicious strangers, and are liable to punishment if they do not. Espionage is dealt with by the court at Leipzig, which may not, award a less severe sentence- than two years' penal servitude. If any German procures knowledge of military seci'ets for treasonable purposes he is liable to a sentence not exceeding ten years, and the. l»w is applied with the inmost severity. Now contrast England. Foreign officer* may 1 come a.nd go as" they like. There is no system of papers or notices for aliens, even when these take up their residences in fortresses or naval bases. The door is opened wide to spies, and there is little difficulty in obtaining any information that may be desired. The- Official Secrets Act, which i« the one measure-we gowsess for d§aJing_jv^

6pies, requires to be- extended. It imposes severe penalties, rising as high as penal servitude for life, when military or naval secrets are improperly obtained for a foreign State, or when defence works are sketched a.nd photographed. But iit contains no provision, such as ism force in Germany, requiring foreign officers, before visiting thds country, to notify the British Government. A, further Act is sorely needed, forbidding the residence of foreign subjects in British fortresses and naval bases except where the conseaxt ot the military and naval authorities has been, obtained. i '