GERMAN SPY SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21112, 20 February 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

GERMAN SPY SYSTEM.

HOW IT WAS CRIPPLED. / BRITISH OFFICER'S PART. ORIGIN OF " LIGHTS OUT." 7 M Wade—Antiques." That is all there is on the sign outside the home of Major 'A. G. Wade, the archaeologist, late of the secret service, on the main London road at Bentley, Surrey. Until recently, when he retired from the Army Reserve, having reached the age limit of 50, he himself jhas been as silent regarding his exploits. Major Wade helped to defeat Germany's Epy system in England, and his work brought about the lights ojit order early in the war. He has revealed some / of his secrets to a Daily Mail reporter. " At the outbreak of the war," Major iWade said, " I was organising secretary to Lord Baden-Powell, but I w p as put on Bpecial intelligence fluty at Scotland Yard, being attached to Sir Edward Henry, then Commissioner of Police. In this role I started the ' lights out ' business. It was introduced to upsei German spies in this Country. " On a certain night in the spring of 1915 the order was suddenly put into effect throughout Surrey. Cars were stopped and all lights were concealed. Six enemy spies were caught signalling by iamp. As a result the 'lights put into operation all over the country, and Germany's system of communication was crippled. Until then it had been possible to relay messages from Lon--1 don to the coast by one signaller after another and then presumably flash them to German ships. "On the coast German submarine officers beached their craft on lonely 6tretches of seaboard, changed into mufti and dined in our hotels. We caught one of them. I always worked on the principle that it was best to let them come, make them at home—and then make it impossible for them to communicate with anyone." Major Wade was sent to Salonika in charge of embarkation work. He fought the gigantic fire at Salonika in 1917, which tendered 70,000 people homeless. " Now," he said, " T am chief officer of the Farnham Fire Brigade . . . and I spend my time collecting antiques and hunting for - traces of the first man in Surrey.