THE GERMAN SPY SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE GERMAN SPY SERVICE.

' STORY OF THE FORTH BRIDGE. In his book on "Spies and Secret SerJice," published by Mr. Grant Richards, „ Mr. Hamil Grant describes the thoroughly equipped organisation which has - its headquarters at " Number Seventy," Berlin. Once accepted as a member of the Secret Service of the higher grade, • .the agent (he says) is entered on the payat a fixed salary commencing at «-200 a year, with an added ten shillings ' ■ , a day or personal expenses whether on active service or not. For each " job " executed, to be sure—he is promised a bonus with an increase of per- . -■ sonal out-of-pocket allowance up to £21 " daily. He is notified, however, that 33 j •v ■ - per cent, of all moneys coming to him 1 w ill be kept back and banked for him '■ . at five per cent., the object of this measure being to assure the Service a hold - upon its agents in case they should be p: inclined to leave without giving due """ ./notice. The salaries are paid monthly in advance. Personal instructions are given really to each accepted agent on his • initiation; he must report daily when not •on active service at Number Seventy; • should hs be on active service, Ife must telegraph a certain number to indicate .'.-.that he is alive and accessible; he must observe absolute silence in respect of his ■missions, nor converse even with high officials under whom he is not acting; he shall carry no memoranda and no documents, but must trust to memory; he is to avoid fellow-agents, is forbidden to i , drink, or associate with women; he must '3 never sign his name, but always his number ; he is provided with a separate • cipher, which he must always use for cabling and telegraphing. It is only at -this point, however, that the real _ grind " begins for your German Secret Service agent, who, whatever may be his ,- v Z moral shortcomings, is certainly worthy ■ of all respect when considered in regard v to his mentality. His studies of a technical character may be said to be confined to topography, • . " .trigonometry, naval construction, military f • fortification, and drawing. His tutors are invariably taken from the ablest ex- ; perts in their subjects. Supposing a Secret Service agent be sent to Antwerp to study the forts and report upon them, he must be in a position to give correct v estimates of heights, angles, distances, ground-lay; he must, therefore, be a surveyor, the accuracy of whose intuitions must to a large extent cover the work of the theodolite or the transit-compass. fit" In the case of the spy, for instance, who reported to Berlin upon the Forth ' Bridge, the work had to be performed Without arousirg the attention or the suspicions of officials; the man in question ' ' effected his measurements by pacing, by observing angles, and by subsequent , triangnlation, the result being highly >. creditable to hits training, for ho judged * the required measurements to within tiff's ? ar ds and feet in distances and heights Ife respectively. It may be objected that j » this was wasted time, since these facts Bite <-> ro available to anyone. The General Staff ,-at Berlin was taking no chances, plfyp however. Its object in sending its man |8 ■ - examine the Forth Bridge was solely PHIS to find out how many men could be so disposed, in the vicinity of the structure, ", as to blow it up at a given signal, what P§§| Was the geological nature of the foundashafts, how much dynamite would gfiiggbe;required to destroy the bridge. And oerliijt wanted to know..