MILITARY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 16

MILITARY NOTES.

[Edited Bi ' Echelo:;.] A FAMOUS WAR ARTIST. "BAULKING THE SPIES." "The. death of Mr. Melton Prior, tho famous war artist of tho 'Illustrated London News' will cause profound regret among Army men (comments the "Military, Mail", in an editorial appreciation), many of whom must have met him in the strange places of the earth during the thirty oddvyears of his strenuous military work. Mr. Prior's death makes a sad gap ill the ranks of the old school of war correspondents who really understood war, and whose work'was not dominated by tho modern irrepressible desire to paint 'pictures,' whether in words or colours, regardless of all sense of proportion or perspective. Such men—to mention only a few out of many— as Prior, Russell, 'Forbes, and Bennet Burleigh—tho last-named still employing his vigorous pen on behalf of the "Daily Telegraph'—because they knew war and understood. it, never descended to meretricious .sensationalism. They set their faces resolutely against the evil habit which, during tho war in South Africa, led some of the descriptive writers of the London Press to magnify every paltry skirmish into a first-class battle, and to create thrilling stories of blood 'and slaughter out of'casualty lists which, regarded .with any sense of proportion, were absolutely negligible. Few people, we believe, realise the harm which was done during the South African campaign by writers who, ignorant of war, Rave the reins to their,-unbridled-imagination, and by working on the excited nerves-of tho publicat home, produced - a false sentiment .which, beyond doubt, reacted powerfully on the, conduct of the operations. Omelettes, may not bo made without the breaking of eggs, and. war cannot be conducted without loss of life. Yet to such a stage'was public opinion inflamed by grossly exaggerated 'pen pictures' of quite trivial incidents that officers not unnaturally shrank from the soending of livesnecessary to secure much desired ends.

The recent "spy" cases in England furnishes "Mars," of the Aldersliot "Military Mail," with the text of an interesting article on the subject of ."Baulking the Spies," in .which he describes, the elaborate precautions laid down for the safeguarding of the secrets of the British defensive works at Home and abroad. He .says

"So much uncertainty exists in nonmilitary circles, regarding. the precautions taken by the authorities to prevent the admission of unauthorised persons into defence works at home and abroad, that I have been asked at various times to explain the regulations dealing with, this important point. There is a general feeling in the civilian mind that the m-M----ta.-y authorities are rather slack n guarding the various defences around the coast, and this feeling has certainly i een fanned' into flame by the absurd but cleverly written statements of a journal ist in a prominent evening paper during the excitement o? the arrest of . a German officer on the Portsdown Hil's, and tv.-i Englishmen at Borkum. Vise statements of tho enterprising contributor were, rather tall reading, and no donbt led people to imagine that, our guardians of coast-defences, were, asleep and left the gates open to'anyone, who cared to stroll in and look around. Should anyone attempt this little game he would soon find out his mistake''

"Before a stranger can enter any military works lie must apply to the. local headquarters of the district or command, and upon satisfactory. : evidence being'given that lie desires to. visit friends or relations, and . that he.is a' Britislv subject, lio will be provided with a yellow visitor's pass, subject to the'discretion of the General Officer commanding. The Commander of the Guard at any defence .works- 'carefully scrutinises these passes, intid all'visitors''hftve'lii hand them over ito-ohimoinhdiiifb .their names, in a special register The keeper of this register fills in other details including a description of the pass and. its holder, the date and the .name of the officcr issuing the pass. After this all visitors' passes are burnt or otherwise completely destroyed, and a remark to the effect that thishas been drine ' is. entered- in the register. . These i precautions are taken at all places which are. so . important as to require special safeguarding from illegal observation. All cameras and sketch books are retained .until the visitor - leaves the works, and . sentries have unlimited powers to forbid visitors access to certain places within the defence works.

• "There is a special pass issued only by order of the War Office, which admits the Jiolder to any portion of a military stronghold, including position-finding cells and other secret works. This is only issued to officers of Defence Commit- , tees or other highly-placed and responsible officers whoso duties bring them to these places. The're are other passes such' as district; works, and trading passes. The last-named allows authorised trades-, men -to enter the residential portion of military. works and do business with the families- of officers and others. Here again the holders -of this pass are. closely watched and prevented from straying off their route to and from .the entrance gate. ~ Sometimes a zealous non-commis-sioned officer will even overhaul a tradesman's cart in his 'search for contraband. Authorised workmen ■ employed", by local contractors to exccute repairs, and do other work inside defences are supplied with a works pass, for which a deposit of two shillings and sixpence is demanded, the money being returned, on surrender of., ,tho pass. - The solo responsibility for civilians to defence works rests with , the general or other officer, commanding, and every care is .taken to avoid issuing passes.to foreigners or suspected persons. "Should, the Army Council grant permission for a foreigner to go over any works, an officer always accompanies him and takes care to show him only the outside •of special buildings, magazines, etc. The general public, ..and the taxpayer especially, may rest assured that a close watch and guard is kept on all our important defence works, and that the -noble army of foreign agents or spies is confronted with many difficulties in its. search for information,' .in spite of the' apparent slackness that reigns over the daily routine of guarding these important places along the coast. Too obtrusive strangers are; gently warned off the premises by homely-looking sentries, and should they persist in trespassing— well, I have seen instances myself of a soldier taking the . law into- his own hands and smashing a camera, besides forcibly ejecting' an offender. We may appear a bit slow on the surface, but many an e'nterprisine' foreign agent knows to his sorrow how different the reality is.