ESPIONAGE IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3168, 2 December 1914, Page 6

ESPIONAGE IN ENGLAND.

GERMAN SPY SYSTEM. AMAZING RELEYATIONS. (Fhoji Ouh Own Coeeespondent.) LONDON, October G. Tho Homo Office told the public to-day what the authorities have done with regard to German spies and espionage. Tho official statement says : “It was clearly ascertained five or six years ago that the Gormans were making groat efforts to establish a system of espionage in this country. In order to trace and thwart those efforts a Special Intelligence Department was established by the Admiralty and the War Office, which has ever since acted in tho closest co-operation with the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police and the principal provincial police forces. In 1911, by the passing of ‘ The Official Secrets Act, 1911,’ the law with regard to espionage, which had hitherto been confused and defective, was put on a clear basis, and extended so as to embrace every possible mode of obtaining and conveying to the enemy information which .might bo useful in war. The Special Intelligence Department, supported by all the means which could be placed at its disposal by the Home Secretary, was able m three years, from 1911 to 1914, to discover the ramifications of the German Secret Service in England. In snite of the enormous efforts and lavish expenditure of money by the enemy, little valuable information passed into their hands. ARREST OF SPIES. “ On August 4, before tho declaration of war, instructions were given by the Home Secretary for the arrest of 20 known spies, and all were arrested. „This figure docs not cover a large number {upwards of 200) who were noted as under suspicion or to be kept under special observation. The great majority of these were interned at, or soon after, the declaration of war. None of the men arrested in pursuance of the orders issued on August 4 has yet been-brought to trial, partly because the officers whose evidence would have been required were engaged in urgent duties in the early days of the war, but mainly because the prosecution. by disclosing tho means adopted to track our spies and prove their guilt, would have hampered the Intelligence Department in its further efforts. They were and still are held as prisoners under the powers given to the Secretary of State by tho Aliens Restriction Order. One of them, however, who established a claim to British nationality, has now boon formally charged, and, tho reasons for delay no longer existing, it is a matter for consideration whether the same course should now bo taken with regard to some of the other known spies. A WIRELESS TRAP. “In addition, a censorship over cables and letters was established, and aliens were prohibited while residing in this country from having in their possession any wireless or signaling apparatus of any kind, or any carrier or homing pigeons. At the same time the Post Office, acting under the powers given them by tho Wireless Telegraphy Acts, dismantled all private wireless stations, and they have established a special system of wireless detection by which any station actually used for the transmission of messages from this country could be discovered. The police have cooperated successfully in this matter with the Post Office. ORGANISATION CRUSHED. “Espionage is now a military offence, punishable by death. At the present moment one case is pending in which a person charged with attempting to convey information to the enemy is awaiting his trial by court-martial; but in no other case had any clear trace been discovered of any attempt to convey information to the enemy, and there is good reason to believe that tho spy organisation, crushed at the outbreak of the war. has not been re-established. “How completely that system had been, suppressed in the early days of the war is clear from the fact —discovered in a German army order—that on August 21 the German military commanders were still ignorant of the' despatch and movements of the British Expeditionary Force, although these had been known for many days to a large number of people in this country. “Another matter which has engaged the closest attention of the police had been the possibility of conspiracies to commit outrage. No trace whatever has been discovered of any conspiracy, and no outrage of any sort has yet been committed by any alien—not even telegraph wires having been maliciously cut —since the beginning of tho war. Nevertheless, it has been necessary to bear in mind the possibility that such a secret conspiracy might exist, or might be formed among alien enemies resident in this country l . Accordingly, immediately after the commencement of hostilities rigorous search was made by tho police in tho houses of Germans and Austrians, in their clubs, and in all places where they were likely to resort. In a few cases individuals were found who wore in possession of a gun or pistol which had not been declared, and in one or two cases there were small collections of ancient firearms, and in such cases the offenders have been prosecuted and punished, but no store of effective arms—still less any bombs or instruments of destruction—has, eo far, been disFrom the beginning any Gormans or Austrians who were deemed by the police to be likely to ho dangerous were apprehended. About 9000 Germans and Austrians of military age have been so arrested, and are held as prisoners of war in detention camps, and among them are included those who are regarded by tho police as likely in any possible event to take part in any outbreak of disorder or incendiarism.”