METHODS OF THE HUNS.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 86, 13 April 1917, Page 3

METHODS OF THE HUNS.

AUSTRALIA A PAIB PREY

WILY SCHEMES FRUSTRATED

The extent to which attempts Avert i made before the war to increase German influence in Australia, aiic to obtain knowledge of Australiar conditions which might at a future , date be used to advantage to promote j German settlement, can scarcely he realised, states the Melbourne "Argus •ofMarch 31. Information that has come into the possession of the Aus- ; tralian authorities throws light upon I the methods adopted to place the •: German Government in possession oi : the most minute particulars about j the adaptability of Western Australia • for German settlement, and the iui formation further indicates that even | since the war broke out the Germans i have, not relaxed tiieir • propaganda efforts. On the contrary, every opportunity has been seized, to get "into the closest touch with the■'.'. Germans' resident in .Australia, and even with those interned in the segregation camps. But, wily as were the methods employed by the Germsin authorities to place themselves in communication with..their interned compatriots, _ the vigilance of the Australian authorities has been such that their schemes were one after the other unmasked. Commencing with what happened just before the war, a detailed report from one of the German missionaries on the north-west coast of Western Australia to a society in Germany called "The Society for the Protection of Germans Abroad," was intercepted. The report consists of answers to inteirogatories, and is headed "Strictly confidential." The first questions asked related to the country, -town, provinces, etc., upon which the missionary was able to give precise information. Joseph Bischofs, a missionary of the Pallotiner congregation," Lrmburg, Prussia, resident in the north-west of Australia at Broome, replied that he had been nine years in Australia. Asked if he was prepared to answer Questions confidentially, the missionary stated that as far as he could find time he would be pleased to place .himself at the society's disposal. Then came minute replies to questions about stock, fruit, cultivation, and wages generally, and also about pearl fishing. i An important question was if the.! missionary could send any kind of • photographs, and to thic- the reply was "Perhaps later." ! There was a German club, the missionary stated, at Fremantle, and there were several German hotels in Perth and Fremantle, she tariff being indicated. "Are there correct maps of your town, your country, province, etc.?" The missionaries reply to ohis question was that the best charts of the coast could be obtained from the Harbor and Lights Department, Fremantle, whilst maps of the country generally were obtainable from the Department of Lands and Surveys in Perth.,.., In all fifty questions were ; 1 answered, all treating in., the most, -intimate manner of the physical and commerieal facts of the disti'icts in which the missionary resided. To each question full replies were given. This report was dated July ( 10, 1914. It appears that in an incautious moment, long before the Avar, according to information in possession of the Department, a German repre sentative in Australia, remarked to an Australian, officer that. Australia .<

I ably as a German settlement. The report, of which extracts are now published, clearly indicates that steps were taken subsequent to. this conversation by the German Government to supplement the information already in its possession about the ' north-west coast. ! Other 'information in possession of the Australian axithorities indicates that the doings of Australian business men were followed in the closest details. A young business man who,, previous to the war, was about to visit the United Kingdom, received a note from the German* representative offering him introductions to German firms. In spite of a reply that he did not expect to visit Germany, letters of introduction were sent to him. In due course, the business man reached England. He did not communicate with the firms, to which he had letters, but they evidently knew his- whereabouts, and wrote inviting him to call. He replied lie was not visiting Germany. ; At the last moment, however, he changed his route, and spent a night at,, a town on the Rhine near which were the works of one of the firms which had written to him. He had fosgotten all about this firm, but within an hour of'arrival a member of the firm called at his hotel,-thus proving conclusively that his movements since landing in England had been closely followed.

It is known to the Australian authorities that the local offices; _of great companies such as those interested in metals, potash, etq., were

J agencies for collecting and sending to Germany information of Australian resources. A great steamship company was for intelligence purposes nothing else than v branch of the German Admiralty. Some of the German schools in Australia were, it has been ascertained by the- Commonwealth authorities, used in connection with granting of exemption from service in the German army, in the various centres an official representative of the German Consul-General in Sydney was. "appointed. In one case the representative was n pastor, a member of a branch of the Prussian National Church, who, with other pastors of his Church, received part of his stipend from Germany. This man, an Australian by birth, although of German parentage, was interned after the outbreak of war, and in his possession were found many treasonable documents.

The German press organisation has been found to be most accurate in sending to Germans and persons of German . descent in Australia news favorable to the enemy cause. From ! Holland, Switzerland, and America leaflets and publications continue to , arrive, usually in English, in which, tinder coyer of neutrality, proGerman views are expressed. Enemy agents abrpad are making constant efforts _to send aews and messages surreptitiously to prisoners of war interned in Australia. . A packet of cigarettes addressed to a prisoner, opened by chance, was found to contain nine cigarettes of tobacco and one of rolled newspaper cuttings. A large packet' of cigars from the Philippines contained boxes of excellent Manila cigars, but in one box the cigars were all of paper. A box of walnuts came from Java; when the censor opened it, one fell out. and broke, disclosing that the inside had been taken out and the shell stuffed with paper cuttings. All of them were then cracked, a»d in all of them *vere newspaper, cuttings.- Apart irom these devices, letters and newspapers, which appear to contain nothing but what is visible are used for writing in an invisible medium, the secret of which is known to the received. Probably,the censors know as much of these devices-as the prisoners. ,_; '■"• ; -V-'.'.^ "' '■ '■. '■.......- v,; In district a Gennatf. agenfej;. afjer theoutbreak of 'war; 'endear:' .<vore&;: tp';.Gr^nJTO^l^/;Ge3&^'^»o'iiiu.T-.. latiotf" in readiness for-military dp^fatjOns. He interviewed ; the Germans in their own houses, and in some cases interviewed congregations as they were leaving church. > He met with little success, but a few received him favorably. The Defence Department was well informed of what was going on, and he and;those who were ready to help him are all safe behind the wires.

x "Yet./ another striking example of Hun "duplicity is furnished in a circular issued by Herr yon Putt Kamer, a German Minister- of the Interior, ■• to secret; service- agents ia January, 1914, of which the followingl is an exact translation: —

"Our agents at fixed posts .must; not content themselves witfc holding salaried positions; they might^ lose such positions alt any moment. Each one must be obliged to keep some kind of office. _ Whatever the nature of the 'establishment, whether it is a disputed claims office or land and property -agency, grocery establishment or cafe, restaurant^ hotel, insm^ance. office or the like, in all cases the business must, bo soundly established and possess a substantial goodwill. 'It must, in fact, be ever borne

in mind that it js necessary for agents to inspire coufidence in circles where they have been the centre of action, "and to create that confidence by the outward signs of an ordinai*y middle-class existence; indeed, by making themselves known in all kinds of societies, associations and communities, they must acquire such a strong social position that, as far as their locality is concerned, each may be well received everywhere' and highly thought of in all quarters, and may be "thus always, in .a- position to give us useful information on all points/ .