IS A SPY A HERO?

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13735, 29 May 1913, Page 8

IS A SPY A HERO?

ik* question has beon raised by the assertion o£ Crown counsel in a recent naval ospionago case. Most people would probably hesitate to ingurgitate this concoption of a spy, even though he is duly authorised by his country to ascertain all tho .socrot designs of the. enemy. Nevertheless, i^ had a tremendous effect upon the Court, and through the Press upon th« .public. Parrott was a non-commis : sioned officer in tho British Navy, who Iwas.ontrusted with confidential inforni- ! ation, who drew a salary totalling about £240 per annum, and yet who, for a small sum —semething under £100 —sold his country, so far as it lay in his power to do so, in order to earn tho gratitude of a pair of bright eyes, or, it may bo, rewards which up to tho present have not been disclosed.

London and every naval base and ovory mobilisation'contre in Groat Britain is at present honeycombed with spies, mainly of Gorman extraction. They are everywhere, and they occupy every grade of lifo. Somo of them are poople of leisure, who froquont West End drawing rooms in immaculate clothes. Others are to be met in tho principal clubs, where they lounge and tell stories, and still more are content to play tho role of tho humble waiter at tables where well-known officers

from tho naval and military forces take their meals, trusting in this way to profit by chance remarks which may reveal something otherwise unobtainable. It must cost Germany an enormous sum to pay for this organisation, which she conducts on such an elaborate scalo; but she has a very largo secret service fund, and as an insurance it is probably cheap at the money.

A spy in peace time goes to gaol; in times of Avar is shot. Crown counsel in the Parrott case insisted that he is a man of courage, and that ho carries his lifo in his hand. To some men and women it is doubtless a fascinating and adventurous vocation; but it requires the casuistry of a member of the Devil's Brigade to elevate it to the pedestal of heroism.—"Sydney Sun."