SPY MANIA.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 31 December 1926, Page 6

SPY MANIA.

OUTBREAK IN BRITAIN. YPer Press Association —Copyright.; LONDON, Dec. 30. Another attack of spy mania is threatened, as the result of the arrest of Stranders. It is asserted that a network 01 spying in France and Britain, Cu behalf of Germany, has been discovered, the head of which is Dr. Weber, a man of many names and high attainments, who gives the impression of being a rich idler, but who is really a most active man. The Paris correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that Dr Weber made two tnps x to England this year. He visited London, Newcastle and Portsmouth. A coincidence is that each visit marked the disappearance of documents relating to national defence. In one case it was announced that the documents were found again, but this only after the photographs of the papers had reached Berlin. The Paris correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle” reports that the police are searching for a pretty blonde, who left a note in a hotel after Stranders’ departure, in which she wrote: “I love you—Your Ginette.” Stranders’ advocate stresses the fact that there is no proof that he communicated anything of a really secret nature. It is revealed that Scotland Yard co-operated with the French police to watch the air ports, m case Stranders arrived by aeroplane. He served in the Royal Flying Corps, and later was attached to the Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission, in Germany. LONDON, Dec. 29. The “Evening News” says that Stranders admitted that he received 5000 gold marks for the information supplied Germany, on a list of questions, which he learned and destroyed. PARIS, December 29. Notable industrialists are expected to be called in defence of Stranders, who affirms that he is a victim of vengeance in connection with private affairs. He represented a French aircraft firm, and frequently' made journeys from France to Germany. The police contend that the mysterious Dr. Weber, with whom Stranders corresponded, was merely a pseudonym for the head of the German spy organisation. The arrest followed the discovery of a pocket-book containing notes of the -‘st French aero engines.