THE SECRET SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17576, 18 March 1919, Page 6

THE SECRET SERVICE

A GREAT WAR RECORD. ' UTkom Oitb' Own "OoHBESPONnNT) .... .LONDON, January 3. Xne publio masts on having mysteries and sensations, and-it will accordingly, be very, much annoyed to hear from Brigadiergeneral G. K. Cockerill, 0.8., that there is no evidence at. all that enemy submarines ever received information of the departure of shipping from British ports. Statements like this are a rude shock to the romantic conceptions the public has' of the war They are on all fours with the official announcement m .1915 that there was not a single case in England of enemy attempts to poison or interfere with reservoirs in this country.

General Cockenll has been head of the Directorate of Special Intelligence during the war, a service which grew from ver? tiny beginnings-there were, in fact, onlV tour omcers when war broke out—to a bureaucracy 0f.6000. Tht, first notable step BrS«5, kf* Ser VP e i was tlie censorship of British cables, which was put into operation so drastically that there was never any necessity to alter its principles. The work' of the Secret Service was, of course carried out m strict secrecy, and it is onlv now possible to lift the veil a little and indicate what was accomplished.' ihe primary duty of the service was fo detect and convict enemy spies. In most cases the arrest of the spy followed quickly upon his .entry into the country. Owing largely to this such important operations as tho withdrawal from, Gallipoli, tfre bonrtru" tion of tanks, and the preparation for the Cambra, offensive-all of wfich were Wn to numbers.of people in this country-wer" concealed from the enemy. "No act of destruction or incendiarism has been comnvt- • y enem y agents in this country This is the more remarkable," General Cockerill ° f Gnemy alieDS JS" JT°ft ° f ft! Secret Service *" also' bhSlcX a* , Ba *' rf w*»y operation of the Wookade and -the suppression of enemy t r "^ Al S l ° St tile evidence provided bl traband was forwarded by the Special Internee Department, and the A of wMHT I rt? ninff *'! hipaf an , d ca *S^s-<l ea lt with by the court is over £30,000,000 More°Z e \ e £TJ remi <*a-n<*s to the value of THE FOREIGN PRESS. One part of the Directorate of Special Intelligence .published "The Daily S of the Foreign Press," with ife 3 many sud plements-pohtioal, economic; and technical Another studied enemy methods of propaganda; another kept open channels of ifTl the express p'urposo of distributing British propaganda in enemy covers on which the postage had been 3 by the enemy. Military material suitable for our own propaganda was collected, prepared and distributed by balloons on the British fronts. The chemical laboratory with a highly skilled staff, was always busy m connection with secret inks, while there was another staff of photographic and code experts and professors of unknown languages. ™

General CockeriU says that kindred organisations in dominions and colonies have been essential links in a service which is Imperial in character and world-wide in extent.