Descriptive.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 378, 6 August 1903, Page 7

Descriptive.

SECRET SERVICE. _ SII|||LL the great nations require information .about other «HK» countries which is not obtainable openfy. For this reason the Intelligence departments of the great military powers on the Continent are organised on a scale of cost and efficiency undreamed of In England. In Russia the secret police employ a considerable number of agents, both male and female, who are resident in England. Some of these paid agents, or spies, are people well known in society. Their duties vary from diplomatic work of the highest delicacy to the collection of newspaper cuttings. , ; / One of the points attended to by the Russian Secret Service is the record of every English public man who speaks or writes about Russia. On one occasion the present writer had the opportunity of seeing the system followed by the Russian police. Every speech and every writing of Mr, Shaw-Lefevre —an innocent and not very formidable personage—with particulars of his birth, parentage, means, residence, habits, tastes, and position were all entered up in a great portfolio. Mr. Shaw-Lefevre was at one time associated with the Friend of Russian Freedom; and is, therefore, like all the other members of that body, carefully watched by the agents of Russia. Considerable sums are spent in Russia on secret service agents in Central Asia, Beluchistan, Persia; and in India itself. The objeeta of these agents is to belittle Great Britain „»nd belaud Holy Russia. Constant 1 diplomatic duels take place between British Consular agents and the avowed representatives of Russia. Tnis subterranean war of secret agents'is going on all over the world

•>* German system of-secret service is conducted on much more scientific lines. German knowledge of the United Kingdom is completer than that of most Englishmen, The German General' Staff possesses a schedule of the contents of all the chief residences in the kingdom. Every picture and work of art of any considerable value is known to the German General Staff, while the study of British topography, the mastery of ordinance maps, the knowledge of the fords, smithies, obstacles, population and high roads form the subject of examination from German officers who are told off to the duty of acquiring full knowledge of the countries of the United Kingnom The German agento in England, who are occupied in surveying the country with a view to contingencies, are generally to be found in couples in the guise of tourists. They know almost to a head how many horses the Irish farmers can supply within a given time. They have made a careful study of the idiosyncrasies of our leading men. Their tastes, habits, health, friends and means are carefully noted by the astute Teutons, who distil tbo honey of information from English fields for the German hive. The principal feature in which German Secret Bervice differs from that of England is that the Germans co-ordinate the whole of their knowledge, and have it ready to hand in a concentrated form whenever it is required: The English system is different.' There 'is a Secret Service Fund controlled by the Foreign Office. So many foreign office agents are hostile to England, and are unpaid, that tbe Foreign Office service is often found to be useless for naval or military purposes. During, the last two years the Admiralty has succeeded in wresting from the Foreign Office the control of the Secret Service, so far as it affects the navy. During the trouble with France over Feshoda agents of the Admiralty were busily watching French opinion in the great centres. The' English Military Intelligence department is again a separate service. What does the Admiralty know about the German fleet? Very little. How many times has the Naval Attache in Berlin visited Emden, cr even Kiel? For what purpose are the miles of quays erocted at Emden, a little village with a tenth-rate museum in it? If the Boer war taught us anything it was to enforce the lesson that knowledge is power. There is nothing so conducive to peace as a full knowledge of the intentions and tendencies of other nations. An- enormous outlay may be saved by the reorganisation and establishment of an efficient and up to date system of secret service. —* Investigator.'