ESPIONAGE.

West Coast Times, 21 November 1914, Page 1

ESPIONAGE.

GERMAN SPIES. HOME OFFICE CRITICISED. [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT], LONDON, Nov., 19. There was a sharp debate in the House of Lords on the slackness of the Home Office respecting spies. Lord Londonderry, during an angry speech, said that ho had every ground for signalling and espionage were going on on the northeast coast. As Lord-Lieutenant of Durham ho intended instructing the magistrates to have arrested all spies, anil, if guilty, to fdipot them. A SPY ARRESTED. (Received Nov. 20th at S.oO p.m.) COPENHAGEN, Nov. 19. A German spy was arrested whilst Irving to open a gun-breach iu (he foriitieations of Copenhagen. SPY ORGANISATION TX ENGLAND . GERMAN VS WASTED EFFORTS. HOME OFFICE STATEMENT OF PRECAUTIONS. ESPIONAGE. PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. The following \yas communicated by the Homo O co on October 9th: In view of the anxiety naturally lelt by the public with regard to the system of espionage on which Germany has placed so much reliance and to which attention has been directed by recent reports from the seat of war, it may he well to state hrio.lly the stops which the Home Office, acting on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, has taken It* deal with the matter in this country. The secrecy which it has hitherto been desirable iu the public interest to observe on certain points cannot any longer be main tallied owing to the evidence which it is neeesary to produce in cases against spies that are now ponding.

It was clearly ascertained live or six years ago tiiat the Hermans wore making great ctlni'ls to establish a sytem of espionage in thi* country, ami in order in trace and thwart these efforts a Special Intelligence Departinenl was established by the Admiralty ami the War Office which has ever since acted in the closest, cooperation with ihc Home Office and -Meiropolitain Police and the. principal provincial police forces. In 101], hy the passing of the Official Secrets Act, 1 !)11 the law with regard to espionage which had hitherto been confused and defective, was put on a clear basis and extended so aw to embrace every possible mode of olilaining and conveying to the enemy information which might he useful In

ACiKXTS WATCH Id) AXI) SHADUU Kl).

The .Special Intelligence Department, jijwii-tod by all the means which could be placed at Us disposal by the Homo Secretary, was able in three years, from 1911 to 191-1, to discover the ramifications of the Herman Secret Service in England. In spite of enormous efforts and lavish expenditure of money by the enemy, little, valuable information passed into their ham ! «. The agents, of whose identity knowledge was obtained by the Special Intelligence Department, were watched and shadowed without in general taking any hostile action r>r allowing them to know that their movements were watchful. When, however, any actual slop was taken to convey plans or documents of importance from this country to 'Germany, the spy was arrested and in such ease evidence sufficient to secure his conviction was usually found in his possession. Proceedings under the Official Secrets Acts were taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions; and in six cases sentences were passed varying from 18 months to six years’ penal servitude. At the same time steps were taken to mark down and keep under observation all the agents known to be engaged in tliis traffic, fi o that when any necessity arose the police might lay hands on them at once; and, acordingly on the -tth August, before the Declaration jo£ War, instructions were given by the Homo Secretary for the arrest of 20 known spies, and all were arrested. This figures floe R not cover a large number (upward 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

None of the men arrested in pursuance of tho orders issued on August 4 had vet been brought to trial, partly because the officers whoso evidence would have been required wore engaged in urgent duties in the early (lays of the war, but mainlv because tho prosecution by disclosing the means adopted to track out tho spies and prove tlioir 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 the Aliens Itestnotion Act. One of them, however, who established a claim to British nationality, has nowbeen formally charged; and, fire reasons for delay no longer existing, it is a matter for consideration whether the same course should now be taken with regard to some of the other known spies.

ORGANISATION BROKEN UP. Although this action taken on August 4th is believed to have broken up the spy organisation which have been established before the war, it is still necessary to take the most rigorous measures to prevent the establishment of any fresh organisation and to deal

with individual spies who might previously have been working in this country outside the organisation, or who might be sent hero under the guise of neutrals after the declaration of war. In carrying this out the Home Office and War Office have now the assistance of the cable censorship, 'and also of the postal censorship, which, established originally to deal with correspondence with Germany and Austria, has been gradually extended (as the necessary stuff could, be obtained) so as to cover communications with those neutral countries through which correspondence might readily pass to Germany or Austria. The censorship Ini* been extremely effective in stopping secret communications by cable or letter with the enemy, hut as its existence was necessarily known to them it has not, except in a few instances, produced material tor the detection of espionage. On August 4th the Aliens Restriction Act wßr passed, and within an hour of its passing an Order in Council was made which gave the Homo Office and the police stringent powers to deal

with aliens, and especially enemy aliens, who under this Act could he stopped from entering or leaving the United Kingdom, and were prohibited while residing in this country who having in their possession any wireless or (signalling apparatus of any kind,

or any carrier or homing pigeons. Under this Order all those districts where the Admiralty or War Office considered it undesirable that enemy aliens should reside have been cleared, by the police of Germans and luistrians, with the exception of a few persons, chiefly women and children, whose character anil antecedents arc such that the local Chief Conslablo, in whose discretion the matter is vested by the Order, considered that all ground for suspicion w a , s precluded. At the same time the Rost Office, acting umler the powers given them by tile Wireless 'telegraphy Acts, dismantled all private stations; and they established a special system of wireless detection by which any station actually used for the transmission of messages from this country could he discovered. The police have cooperated successfully in this mutter with the

’net Office. TRIAL BY COURT 'MARTIAL

Now ami still more stringent powers for dealing with espionage were given bv the Defence of the Realm Act, which was passed hy the Home Sec,rotary through the House of Commons and received the Royal As s ent on Aug-

list Bth. Ord“rs in Council have been made under this Act which prohibit, in tile widest possible terms, any attempt on the part of either of aliens ■or British subjects to communicate any information which “is calculated to be or might be directly or indirectly useful to any enemy’’; and any person offending against this prohibition is liable to be tried by court martial and. sentenced to penal servitude tor life. The effect of these Ordeifc is to make espionage a military offence. Power is given both to the police and to the military authorities to arrest without a warrant any person whoso behaviour i l? such as to give rise to

suspicion, and any person so arrested by the police would be handed o'er to the military authorities for trial by court martial. Only in the event of tho military authorities holding that there is no prima fade case of espionage or any other offence triable by military law is a prisoner handed hack to the civil authorities to consider he should bo charged with failing to register or with any other offence under the Aliens Restriction Act.

The present posiion is therefore that espionage has been made by statute a military 'offence triable by court martial. It Tried under tho Defence ■of tho Realm Act the maximum punishment is penal servitude for life; but if dealt withj a war crime, the punishment of death can be inflicted.

At the present moment one case is pending in which a person charged with attempting to convey information to the enemy is now awaiting his trial by court martial; hut in no other case has 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.

Haw completely that system had been suppressed in tho early days of the war is clear from the fact disclosed in a German Army Order —that on the 21st of August the German Military Commanders were still ignorant of the dispatch and movements of the British Expeditionary Force, although these had been known |for many days to a largo number of people in this country. THE KEEPING OF PIGEONS. The fact, however, of this initial success does not prevent the possibility of fresh attempts at espionage being made, and there is no relaxation in the efforts of the Intelligence Department and of the police to watch and detect any attempts in this direction. In. carrying out their duties the military and police authorities would expect that persons having information of oases of suspected espionage would communicate the grounds 61 fho suspicion to local military authority or to the local police, who are in direct communication with tho Special Intelligence Department, instead of causing unnecessary public alarm and possibly giving wanting to tho spies by public speeches or letters to the Press. In cases in which the Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed to the' authors of such letters and speeches to supply him with the evidence upon which their statements were founded in order that he might consider the question of prosecuting tho offender, no evidence of any value has as yet been forthcoming.

Among other measure* which have

boon taken has been tho registration, by order of tbo Secretary of State made under tbo Defence of tho Realm Act, of all persons keeping carrier or homing pigeons, Tbo importation and the conveyance by rail of these birds have, been prohibited; and, with tho valuable assistance of the National Homing Union, a system of registration has been extended to the whole of the United Kingdom, and measure,, have been taken which, it is believed, will bo effective to provent the possibility of any birds being kept in this country which would fly <n tho Continent.

Another matter which has engaged the,closest attention of tho police has been tho possibility of conspiracies to commit outrage. No trace whatever has been discovered of any such conspiracy. an dno outrage of any sort ha*, yet been committed, by any alien —not oven tlegraph wires having been maliciously cut since tbo beginning of the war. Nevertheless it has been necessary to bear in mind tho possibility that such a secret conspiracy might exist or might bn formed among alien enemies resident in this country. Accordingly, immediately after the commencement of hostilities, rigorous search was ado by the 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 were inp ossession of a gun or pistol which they had not declared, and in one or two instances there were small collections of ancient firearms—still less any bombs or instruments or destructions—have so far been discovered. From the beginning any Germans or Austrians who were deemed by tho police to be likely to bo dangerous were apprehended, handed over to the military authorities, and detained as prisoners of war; and, as soon as the military authorities desired it, general action was taken to arrest and hand over to military custody Germans of military iago ,subject to exceptions which have properly- been made on grounds of policy. About 9,00(1 Germans and Austrians of military age have been so arrested and are held ns prisoners of war in' detention camps, and among them are included those who are regarded by tho polios ns likely in any possible event to take part in any outbreak of disorder or incendiarism.