WAR-TIME SMUGGLING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 122, 17 December 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

WAR-TIME SMUGGLING.

GERMANY INGENIOUS THICKS. The present war, says an Englisn paper, nas afforded many instances ot uvrman sltaness, hut never has it been to marked as in their attempts to smuggle contraband into Germany. In these tactics they havo certainty had experience. .During the South Airican War we discovered uermany sending guns as "pianos" to the neutral territory ot Deiagoa Bay. ihese guns were certainly intended lor Boer use. In most cases neutral countries seem to have been the innocent victims ot this practice, and hardly one lias escaped. At the outbreak of the war the German bout Ha\orn sailed into Naples Harboi.. .ind was interned by tiie Italians. When Italy declared war, its cargo of " wheat" was seized and found to consist of 5,000 tons of war material, including aeroplanes and machine-guns, which were promptly confiscated. The Rumania* Government discovered they were being duped by doublewalled railway wagons, the cavities ci which were tilled with contraband intended for Turkish consumption. Barrels of "Munich Beer," securely packed in ice, wero opened and found to contafc ammunition. This mado the authorities suspicious, and when large consignments of huge building blocks of concrete pa»ed through Rumania on their way from Germany to Constantinople, they were examined and found to be hollow receptacles for howitzer shell cases.

At Brique, in Switzerland, an Italian trunk, ostensibly packed with imit, burst whilst being shunted,, and disclosed American-made machine guns on their way to Germany. Greece next came in for a share of attention, and a schooner known to be carrying "presents" to Arab chiefs was stopped by the French destroyer Mosquito, and relieved of £12,000 in gold and an enormous quantity of ammunition.

Having been unable to find a neutral willing to do their shady work, the Turks disaptched a fleet of 60 sailing vessels from Trebijond to a port on the Caucasian coast, thinking that the enemy would not suspect contraband aboard such small vesels. The convoy, however, was destroyed by Russian gunfire in the Black Sea.

GUNS AS LUGGAGE. Germany's treachery in opening firo from Red Cross wagons is well known, but she has other ideas for the secret removal of guns. A Belgian officer, visiting hie relatives in this country, told the writer of German travellers carrying parts of guns in their harmlesslooking valises. They reached the German lines by circuitous routes. Most extraordinary rases are being adopted by Germany to procure rubber, of which she is in great need. Some very amusing fact# concerning these came to light in the recent trial of six German agents before the Federal Grand Jury of America. The Customs officials of New York City with tho aid of X-rays, discovered rubber in barrels of resin and cotton-waste. Another package marked "Stationery" was tound to contain an "ink eraser" large enough to make a pair of motor tyres. One very amusing incident was the discovery of jars containing pickled rubber sausages. A similar plot was betrayed by a letter which fell into the hands of the censor.

All important case recently came before Sir Samuel Evans, President of the Prize Court. It dealt with four Danish vessels carrying cases of crude rubber, which were falsely labelled "gum," In the day-speech tor the defence it was contended that gum and rubber were interchangeable terms for the same article, but this was not allowed. During the case the Solicitor-General read a cryptic cable to a German firm, which ran, "Can largo quantities of States?'' An unfruitful discussion folviolin strings bo exported from lowed as to wVat "violin strings" referred. Thia was most likely copper wire, as attempts have been made to smuggle this through Italy. Over den tinder some vegetables in a rail-twenty-five tons were discovered hid way truck in the International Station at Chiaeso. It was sent there by an Italian chemist from Turin. The Italian .Customs officials confiscated over a thousand tons of leather which also was being dispatched from Milan under the gmso of vegetables. British tin-plate firms were, some time ago, forbidden to export their wares to the Scandinavian countries, as it was stated in Parliament that tin food boxes and caniaters were beiug bought in great quantities by Krupp's and made into boinbs. One .of the most lucrative employments during the Napoleonic wars was guinea smuggling. 'Juc golden guineas of England fetched a high price across tho Channel. This, nefarious pursuit seems to have revived, and Mr. It. McNeil asked Mr. McKenna, in the Commons, if he was aware that Boulogne is infested by German agents engaged in collecting gold coins. Henceforth there is to be a closer supervision of Channel passengers who are to change their money in England. Recently a repatriated German woman was discovered leaviug this couutry with over £4O in the hollow heels of her shoes whilst her companion had £•235 about her person and luggage,

PHOTOS, BY FOOT-WARMER. A most interesting account of wartime smuggling is given by Dr. Arthur Tacquin, Physician-in-Ordinary to the King of the Belgians and formerly head of tue Belgian Red Cross Hospital in tho Royal Palace in Brussels, in his memorable "German Atrocities on Record," published as supplement to the "Field." He was faced with the difficulty of getting his notes and pbotograplis through invaded Belgium to England. After describing his attempts to procure a passport, he says: " Sly gravest problem was to get my documents and material into the smallest possible compast. Double-bottomed portmanteux seemed too well known. I tfi,ed the same game with a milkpail, with y. bos of surgical instruments, with hollow walking-sticks. No good. At last I hit on the idea of using one of those foot-warmers that are used with hot water inside of railway carriages. I got a tin one, about 60 centimetres long bv 12 centre.metres thick, fiHed it with jny papers and films and placed in the centre a tube containing about two litres of water, so that it sound as if the whole footwarmer was full of water. Then I soldered up the outside and started lor the Dutch frontier from Brussels. It was freezing, so none of the German guards was surprised to see my innocent-look-ing foot-warmer; but some of the Dutch hotel servants thought it wan a bomb, and one railway porter thought it was so heavy that he wanted to empty out the water. And at Folkestone a Custom House officer wanted to see whether it was filled with whisky I T poured a little water out of my concealed tube and satisfied him; and so I got safely to England with tho sat. jii'actiop ol hating brought safely with

mc my own little contribution to tho mass ot evidence condemning the Huns lor their barbarity m my owi ioun try." Many devices are used to saloguard dispatches at the liont, and in extreme cases the bearers have been known to eat them rather ttun let them tall into the hands ot ths enemy. They ait often 6ewn into ie clothing and jooie ot dispatch-riaers, or hia<wu iu the pneumatic tyres oi their uacinnes. Spies are laced with tho same difficulties, and here the ingenious female comes along and sews tlic plans into her corsete or wraps them round her sl'in body.

SPIES RUSES. The ruses adopted by spies and prisoners of war in order to pass through the guards are many and varied. A the beginning of tlie war two Germans attempted to cross the Russian fronicr concealed in sacks at the bottom of a vegeable barrow. They had passed the sentry when a Cosack ran his lance into "a sack of potatoes," and an agonised yell betrayed the presence of the spy. On the Western front all piled up loads of hay are carefully prodded with bayonets in order to make sure there are no sipes concealed beneath. To squeeze a man over 6ft. tall into a small packing-case, measuring only 3ft. square, may seem an impossibility, yet it was managed by a German spy who tried to escape from Graveeend last December. Even the All-Highest War Lord himself is not exempt from this war-time smuggling. It is aid he travels about in a train which, chameleon-like, changes its colour. At liret it was a pale blue colour to distinguish it ironi the common troop trains. However, a train resembling it was bombarded by our airmen, and now the precaution is taken to repaint the Kaiser's train before every long journey.