GERMAN SPIES IN ENGLAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 10060, 3 May 1915, Page 7

GERMAN SPIES IN ENGLAND

SOME REMARKABLE STORIES. Bismarck once declared that the Germans were a nation of waiters, but the modern world is coming to regard them as a nation of spies. Their spy system is one of the wonders of crea tion, and Mr Le Qtteux, in his new book, "German Spies in England," gives remarkable information as to its

organisation in the past and conclusive evidence that it still flourishes in this country in the present. Long years before the war Mr Le Queux devoted special attention to German methods, and lie was among the first to warn tiie British people of the spj danger in the Daily Mail. But tk GalliDs of our Government in those davfc cared little for such things. after Mr Le Queux had puhi/fched one of the post notable of his hooks, pointing out that Germany meant war, and was making ready for war, he tells us: "I met Mr (now Lord) Haldane—then War Minister—at dinner at s country house in Perthshire, when, in his breezy way, ho assured mt over the dinner table that he knew Germany and German intention!better than myself, and that then would never be war.'' At the head of the German spy or ganisation is one Steinhauer, who op crates from the security of Berlin: "He is an officer in the Prussiai. Guards and is about forty years oi age. Personally he is a man oi charming manners, of splendid education, and of excellent presence capable of taking his place—as he ha< frequently done—in the very best so cjety. ... I have met him mor< than once. He speaks English practically like an Englishman, and oui of uniform might well pass for ai Englishman in any cosmopolitan gatli ering."

According to Mr Le Queux, th« kaiser was so base as to abuse th< King's hospitality and bring this mas ter-epy to Buckingham Palace in hi; suite. Steinhauer had almost unlimited hinds at his disposal. Germany spem €720,000 in the work of troachen every year. The British dockyan. towns and naval bases swarmed wit] German hairdressers. German photo graphers, German governesses, and Gcrman hotel servants—though Mr L< Qtteux thinks that spies are more com mon among hall-porters than amonj; waiters. Near Piccadilly Circus was ; German officers' club, and, with an ex traordinary contempt tor British care lessness, Germans carried out a "staf. ride" in the eastern counties, the ven country over which they proposed t< march when "The Day" arrived and th< British Fleet had been unexpectedly attacked and destroyed.

At the outbreak of war. it is true, tin British counter-espionage department, which had been quietly organised in part as the result of Mr Le Queux'*efforts, and which for some years had been watching the German agents in this country, intercepting and examining all their letters with admirable secrecy and skill, struck hard and made a large number of arrests. But, astonishing to relate, the head of that department has now been removed, though his efficiency had been fully demonstrated. The present arrangements for dealing with spies Mr Le Queux pronounces altogether unsatisfactory: "Even at this moment of our peril," he says, "it is doubtful if the public will find at New Scotland Yard a single detective able to pass himself off as a German and thus be in a position to make close investigation. There are certainly several who speak German, but in a dozen words they betray their British nationality." Mr Le Quenx speaks of the uncanny knowledge of our naval movements which the Germans seem to jkissoss. Thus, for example, a British naval officer writes from the North Sea: "Their submarines are outside even now, and it seems funny where they get their information. But at any rate they arc weli served, as they knew where the fleet was when we were at Devonport, and we did not know ourselves." There was the knowledge of the position of the British minefields which the "baby-killing'' German cruisers obtained —how we can only guess; the knowledge of the whereabouts of the buo\s on the east coast —for the Germans in their attempted bombardment of Yarmouth, as Mr Le Quwiix declares, took their range from a certain buoys, and their shots only fell short because on the previous day it had been moved a mile. There has been too, the mysterious signalling from an unknown motor-car when the Zeppelins made their inglorious raid on Norfolk. Such indications suggest that the German spy is still active. The ease with which information can be conveyed to the enemy is pointed out by Mr Le Queux: "It is possible to-day to carry in an ordinary motor-car a wireless outfit capable of sending messages a very considerable distance; indeed, there is good reason for believing that such an apparatus is actually being used by German agents for transmitting information from the east and northeast districts of England to enemy submarines lurking in the North Sea."

Not the least astonishing pages of a hook which should be carefully studied from cover to cover, is the report of a speech, said to have been delivered by the Kaiser at a secret council in 1908. which, if its authenticity can be guaranteed, shows him to have been plotting our destruction at that date. The most striking passage in it runs: "God, our great ally, lias given into our hands the means of saving our Empire from the dangers which are threatening its happiness and welfare. You know what I mean. It is that wonderful invention which his Excellency, Count Zeppelin, was enabled, through the grace of the Lord, to make for the safeguarding and glory of our beloved Fatherland. . . We shall strike as soon as I have a sufficiently large fleet of Zeppelins at my disposal. . . and when these are ready we shall destroy England's North Sea. Channel, and Atlantic Fleets. . . The war will be short, sharp, and decisive." Hut what follows is even more extraordinary than the speech: "The German Government, writes Mr Le Queux, by .some means learnt that 1 was in possession of a report of this secret speech of the Kaiser's, and a curious incident resulted. It was my intention, in September, 1908, to write a book, pointing out that Germany meant war. With that obiect I gave to my friend. Mr Kveleigh Nash, the publisher, of Fawside House, Covent Garden, the opening chapters of the manuscript, together with the speech in question. He locked them, in my presence, in a drawer in his writing table in his private room. Two days later, when Mr Nash opened the drawer, lie found they had been stolen! German secret agents undoubtedly committed the theft, lor I have since learnt that my manuscript is now in the hands of the Secret Service in Berlin!"