GERMAN SPY SYSTEM.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15873, 12 April 1917, Page 6

GERMAN SPY SYSTEM.

ITS RELATION TO AUSTRALIA, (FBOU OCR OWN CORBSSrOXBJSNI.) SYDNEY, April 4. Tho Australian authorities recently allowed tho publication of some details of tho German spy system, in so far as it relates to Australia. The present tense is used, bccause, although most of the German agents and sympathisers" in Australia havo been rounded up and placed behind barbod wire, there are still undiscovered and active pro-Ger-mans iu the Commonwealth, and tho German authorities are making continuous efforts to communicate with thoir friends in Australia. Tho Australian postal censors are constantly on th 0 alert, and flatter thcm&elves that there are few ways of seuding secret messages that they are not now acquainted with. The German Press organisations are most active in distributing to their countrymen abroad news favourable to their cause. Leailets, printed in English and containing, under cover of neutrality, pro-German news and views, arc almost constantly arriving from Holland, Switzerland, and Amorica. These are easily dealt- with. A packet of cigarettes', addrcssod to a prisoner, was examined. Nine were of tobacco, but the tenth was of newspaper clippings, tightly rolled. A largo package from the Philippines contained many excellent Manila cigars, but in one box the cigars wero all of paper. A box of walnuts camo from Java, addressed to an interned merchant. A suspicious censor found most of the shells full of paper. Tbeso devices, too, do not unduly disturb a careful censor. The most difficult trick to cope with is that of writing messages in an invisible medium on what appear to be perfectly innocent letters and newspapers. The censors wero probably deceived frequently at first, but thoy are confident that they do not miss much now. Documents which have been seised show how completely tho German spy system was in operation in Australia before the war. Nearly every German business was collecting information and sending it home to tlio Government bureaux. A groat steamship company was, for intelligence purposes, nothing less than a branch of the German Admiralty. Some of the German schools wore used by tho German War Office to grant certain men oxomption from servico in tho German Army. In some cases, tho German pastors wero the official representatives of the German Consul-General in Sydney, and received a portion of their stipends from Ger-' many. One pastor, who had been born < in Australia of German parents, when j arrested by the military, was found to J havo many ■ treasonable documents in ! his possession. The British intercepted, : in the post, from another pastor, a "strictly confidential" report, giving a great amount of information about the north-west coast of West Australia. Finally, here is a translation of a document sent confidentially in January, 1914, by the German Minister for the Interior to all secret service agents, including certain industrious, retiring gentlemen iu Australia and Now Zealand. "Our agents at fixed paste must not content themselves with holding salaried positions; they might lose such positions at any moment. Each ono must be obliged to keep Bome kind of office, whatever the nature of tho establishment, whether it is a disputed claims office, or land and property agency, grocery establishment or cafe, restaurant, hotel, insurance office, or the like. In all cases the business must be soundly established, and possess a substantial goodwill. It must, in fact,,be ever borne in mind, that it is necessary far our agents to inspire confidence in circles where they havo their centre of action, and to create that confidence by the outward signs of an ordinary middle-class existence. Indeed,' by a well-placod munificence, and by taking part in all kinds of societies, associations, and communities, they must acquire such a strong social position that, as far. as their locality is concerned, cach may be well received everywhere and highly thought of in all quarters, and may thus always be in a position to give useful information on : i all points."