STEALING NATION’S SECRETS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3336, 30 September 1911, Page 9

STEALING NATION’S SECRETS.

HOW INTERNATIONAL SPIES WORK. A few days ago Portsmouth was disturbed by a very unusual incident (says an English paper). Two men landed at midnight from a small rowing boat near the Tipnor Powder Magazine, am important depot used as a store for all the military explosixcs at Portsmouth, which is guarded night and day by armed sentries. The sentry challenged them twice, bnt as the men disregarded the challenge he fired. The intruders thereupon rushed back to the boat and vanished in the darkness. While in certain quarters it is alleged that the importance of this incident has been exaggerated, and that it is probable that the men acted in ignorance rather than with any mischievous the general opinion seems to be that the incident provides another striking illustration of the daring of foreign spies. As a matter of fact, spying is greatly on the increase, and Lord Haldane, realising this fact, lias introduced a new Bill, in which it is proposed to inflict heavier penalties on persons found in prohibited places and those who make any sketch, note, model, or plan likely to be useful to an enemy. HARBORING SPIES. In the existing Act these offences are classed as misdemeanors, the penalty being imprisonment for one year, with or without hard labor, and a fine, or either. .In the new Bill these offences are classed as felony, and the penalty is riot less than three years’ nor more than seven' years’ penal servitude—a very drastic change. Persons attempting to commit an offence of this kind, or inciting others, arc. liable to similar penalties. Another new provision relates 1 to '‘harboring spies.” This offence is classed as a misdemeanor, and the person is liable to imprisonment for 12 months, with hard labor, and a fine. Power is also (given to justices to. .grant search-warrants, or ini cases of urgency a superintendent of police may himself give written authority for a search: “in the interest of the State.” NOT TO BE TRUSTED. It is not an easy matter, however, to catch these spies. A few months ago a German officer was arrested for making sketches of the harDor defences of Portsmouth. But for every spy caught there are hundreds who are never discovered, or who, if they are, are quietly despatched out of the country to save international troubles. The greatest clanger, however, lies in British soldiers and sailors betraying their trust and selling plans which it would be almost impassible for a foreigner to obtain. To the credit of both services, it should be said that such cases are very rare indeed. But it is nevertheless a fact that some time ago a plan of tho defences of Malta, the great Mediterranean fortress, second only in value to Gibraltar, was sold by a renegade who had worn the uniform of the British Army. And there was an outcry against the inadequacy of the sentence of 12 .months passed at Manchester on this spy, who betrayed information which would enable a possible enemy to prepare a scheme for the reducing of "Malta and the wresting of the island from the Britisli Crown. It was not the judge who was to blame, however, but the defects in the law which enabled a spy to escape with punishment which would have been metecl out to a common felon. What was more startling still was Hie fact revealed by the military correspondent of the “Times,” that this spy, when arrested, was actually bargaining for the selling of plans of Gibraltar itself to a foreign Power. LORD METHUEN AND THE SPY. About the same time it was learnt that a detailed description of our submarine defences had disappeared from the room of a high official, which meant to say that the whole scheme of our island’s submarine defences was reposing in the archives of a foreign Power, and that the latter knew the site of every mine at Portsmouth and Plymouth, so that, at the call of. battle, its warships could thread their way with ease through the passage left for the passing of British squadrons. Of course, the schemes of defence in such cases are being continually changed; but the mere fact that such plans could disappear provides a remarkable illustration of the success with which these international spies meet. It is not long ago since Lord Methuen and Colonel Haldane met, in Berkshire, a foreign spy who, not knowing who they were asked for detailed information about the width of the roads. Plans for the invasion of England by synchronous raids are now in the possession of the War Office. One of them was tested a short time ago by a party of English officers, and it was found ■that the main features of the spot chosen for the rraid were more favorable to the invader Hian Hie defender. Then, again, no little uneasiness: was caused -by the discovery that a party of foreign staff officers in mufti made an extended riding tour on the East coast in 1908. Of course, it is easy to exaggerate the importance of such incidents; but there is no doubt that there are hundreds of foreigners mixing among all classes in this country in the pay of foreign Governments, on the lookout for securing valuable naval and military information.

IN HIGH OFFICIAL CIRCLES. Many of these spies mix in the best society, are accomplished linguists, and reside here so long that they become in time naturalised British l subjects. They pass as Englishmen, and perhaps secure an appointment in an academy for Hie training of young men for the army and navy. Their credentials take them into the highest official circles, and by their agreeable ..manners they become, in time, honored guests in society, matters being discussed in their presence in a manner which would be carefully guarded against did the fact bepome known that they were foreigners. Another method of these spies is to operate among working men, ingratiating themselves particularly with those who know something of military methods. In the workshops they endeavor to start a discussion on barrack-room life, aeroplanes in war, the latest methods of signalling, life aboard a man-o’-war, and other such topics. The man who appears to show the widest arid most intricate knowledge is singled out, and the spy makes it his business to become an intimate friend of that man in order to learn more.

ry,»— ii 11 ■■■r 11 Funeral customs arc far more import: ant events than marriage functions amongst the natives of the Gold Coast. A funeral takes the form of an Irish wake, and lasts sometimes for weeks. The native saves up gold against the death of his parents. In death customs they exhibit great pride in being able to show olf by a large expenditure in gin. On such'occasions, the greater tlie carouse and the longer the gin lasts,

the richer and more important the relative of the deceased becomes in the eyes of his fellows. A good deal is spent in powder for shooting off of guns to scare away the evil spirit® from molesting the dead, or by making “gun noise, 5 ’ as they call it, to inform tho departed that they are duly celebrating his departure from this world.—“ Gold Coast Palaver,” by Louis P. Bowler.