The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1917.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4459, 29 January 1917, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1917.

The people ot tills Dominion, as well

A Warning to the Overseas Dominions.

as tho people of Australia, would do well to take

heed of the warning given by Mr. Pearce, Federal Minister for Defence, with reference to a cunning move which has b('cn instituted-on the part of the Huns to spy on the Dominions. What is suggested, it will be observed, is that systematic efforts are being made by a gang of enemy spies, operating from Switzerland, to induce residents of the Overseas Dominions j to divulge important information, j concerning the financial and political. circumstances of the Dominions, in ■ reply to apparently innocent inquiries ’ by letter from alleged would-be emigrants to these colonies. An interesting feature of the revelations which have come under the notice of the Commonwealth authorities is that une of the Hun arch-spies who is,engaged in this particular work is a woman. This disclosure recalls the fact that

lately the Swiss Government exposed the doings of a very elaborate Hun organisation operating within their territory, and that, in the course of the investigations, it was proved that Hun women are playing an increasingly important part in the wretched business of espionage which is being so extensively and thoroughly under- ( taken by the Hun Government. It j was found, for example, that, the head of a Hun school for spies which f has its headquarters at Antwerp is a woman who goes by the sobriquets of ( “The Blonde Lady” from the color! of her complexion and “The Lady | , with the Cigarette”from the fact that she is always smoking. This woman j is greatly aided in her base work by j the fact that she speaks English and | French as fluently as German, has travelled widely, is an admirable J musician and, even in her middle age, j retains many of the good looks which . in her youth gave her the reputation j of a beauty. How many, Hun women ( have become spies for their country since the outbreak of the Struggle, in j addition to those who were so engaged before the war in foreign coun- j tries —including probably even these 1 far distant British possessions—is, of course, merely a matter for conjecture, but it is widely believed that the Hun women spies alone represent on exceedingly numerous .body. Amongst the Allied nations, although in Britain strictness is now . being much more rigidly enforced, I* ranee, it is claimed, leads the way in preventing leakage of information which is likely to prove of value to the common enemy. In France the residents are absolutely forbidden to discuss any , matter bearing on the war in any public place on account of the likelihood of a Hun spy being about, and in cases of breaches of the law veryheavy penalties are inflicted. The latest Hun dodge to “worm"’ valuable information from influential residents of the colonies is on a par with other cunning schemes which are being tried by agents of the Hun Government. 11 is not to be understood that the Huns have not already in their possession the statistical information which in pre-war days it was customary for the colonial governments to publish. What the Huns are now anxious to ascertain is, in particular, how much additional aid in men, in foodstuffs, and in treasure the Dominions can provide for their Motherland and also especially whe--1 ther any problems—political, financial | or industrial—have arisen or are likely to arise in relation to the valuable war work which the colonies are do-

ing. Anybody who receives a request from overseas for information of the character to which allusion is made, whether from Switzerland or any other country, should forward any such communication on to the authorities without answering it. It is a matter in connection with which too much, care cannot be exercised, and the Federal Minister for Defence lias done quite right in giving it the widest publicity.