GANG OF SPIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 11

GANG OF SPIES

ARRESTS IN PARIS

INTERESTS OF BRITAIN TANK CORPS' SECRETS ALLEGED LEAKAGE POWER BEHIND RING By Telograph—Press Association—Copyright (Received March 23, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 22 The Daily Express states that the British Secret Service is investigating the activities of the gang of international spies with whom the American Colonel Robert Switz and his .wife (arrested in Paris) are alleged t'o have been connected. The inquiry is due to the discovery that the latest Tank Corps secrets, the plans in connection with whicii were only approved in November, were found in the possession of the arrested suspects, who now total 58. Stavisky is believed to have been the power behind the spy ring and the inquiry of the Secret Service definitely connects "Marie Louise"—mentioned in the Baillie-Stewart case—with the organisation. A woman known in France as Marie Louise Martin is believed in some quarters to be identical with the mysterious "Marie Louise" who was said to have been the cause of BaillieStewart being cashiered from the British Armj' and sent to gaol.

Marie Louise Martin seems to have been the goal of the frequent journeys to Finland made by several of the persons now in custody in Paris, wrote the Daily Telegraph's correspondent recently. This woman appears to have been the'immediate director of a great espionage organisation which was unveiled by police at Helsingfors a few weeks ago. The matter was reported in the French press at the time, but did not attract very much attention. There are grounds for supposing that Marie Louise wa3 sent to Finland by and as the agent of Lydia Stahl, the dominating personality of the Parisian group of alleged spies. • Evidently it was • only when she left on that mission that Marie Scliale, as her real name is, added "Martin," which is the surname of Lydia's lover, a polyglot translator in the cypher department of the French Naval Ministry, who is under arrest. Marie Louise travelled on a Canadian passport, but, according to the French papers, this proved to be a forgery, and she is still a citizen of Latvia, the country in which she was born. Marie Louise is said to have opened in the Finnish capital a salon, which was thronged by people prominent in the political, artistic and literary life of the country. She, too, was a great traveller, making frequent journeys to Germany, Greece, Estonia and France. As a rule she moved about by air. WKen the Finnish organisation covered and her home searched £7OOO in English notes is said to have been found among her effects. A portion of this sum was distributed among a number of envelopes, each of which bore hieroglyphics or an unintelligible inscription in German lettering. A portion of the considerable sum found on Bercovitz, the supposed paymaster of the French group, was disposed of in a similar- manner. _ The suggestion that Marie Louise is identical with the woman in the BaillieStewart case is based on her name, her constant visits to Germany and her mastery of the English language. MORE DISCLOSURES ADMIRALTY'S ACTIVITIES PUBLICATION ON CONTINENT (Received March 23. 9.35 p.m.) LONDON. March 23 A jealously-guarded British naval secret has been revealed in the official organ of the German Admiralty, according to tbe Daily Telegraph's naval contributor. The German paper gives a description of a new anti-air-craft mac ne-gun designed to operate against torpedo aeroplanes and lowflying bombers. The article said: "This weapon now is part of the armament of British battleships and new cruisers." An Italian service journal states: "The British convoy sloop Bittern, ordered in the autumn, is to have four 6in. guns. It is the first new and powerful type for commerce protection."

If .this is correct the Admiralty at length has taken advantage of the clause in the London' Treaty placing no check •on the b\iilding of ships not exceeding 2000 tons, and limited to 20 knots and four 6in. guns. Twenty of these useful sloops could be built at the price of four Leander cruisers.