The Taihape Daily Times MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1915. PAYING CALEB.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 103, 4 January 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times

MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1915. PAYING CALEB.

AND W AIM AKIN 0 ADVOCATE. •With which is >un porated The Taihape Post -.aa Waimuriuo News.;

I Of all the objectionable voca- ' lions to which man can apply himself, that of spying seems to he the most detestable. A spy is regarded with the utmost con- ’ |(Mnpt.; he is S])iirned and shunned j by everyone, except, perhaps by those in whose service he has rn I listed, and it he is caught red- \ handed in the practice of his profession he is, as often as not, court-martialled and shot; ana yet spying out the land of a prospective enemy in time of peace is a form, of preparatory tactics foreign to no modern Power. Hitherto the Japanese, in common with all other Oriental peoples, have boon looked upon as the foremost adepts at spying. The Russians realised this long ago, before their legions were beaten back from the Korean coast into the heart, of Manchuria. During the progress of that mammoth campaign of slaughter, some 1 strange stories were circulated 1 concerning Japanese espionage. If the Japanese were recognised as adopts at “Playing Caleb” what shall.be said of Teutons? Prior to their trouble with Russia, the Japanese, it is said, had the most perfect system of espionage operating over Korea and Manchuria, in particular, that has ever been known ; and. yet. in comparison with the world-wide spying organisation of the Teuton it was little more than mere interesled curiosity. There is no quarter of the world that has been too insignificant for the Teutons’ attentions; in the guise of every civil vocation he has played his profession , under the best conditions, and with but- little risk of being; discovered. Suspicious happenings have been scoffed at and disdaianfully disposed of as paltry rumour, and only when it was too late did we realise the value of the wise old sage’s warning when he said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of safety.” The British are, perhaps, the most sapient and self-satisfied people on earth. They probably know less (ami up to recent times have eared loss) of the strategic geography of the territory of any prospective enemy than the most ill-informed prospective enemy knows about theirs; and it has evei been so. In Britain ample justification has been forthcoming of the popular suspicion that even the most apparently artless amongst German I workmen, of all sorts, may indeed ! be the most artful of German ; spies. At no time in the historyf the world has such a tuammoT-, j system of espionage been in operation, nor has so much money over been utilised in paying for information gained by spving as has been paid by Germany during ihe last decade. We have no intention of reiterating the surprising exploits of German spies, which have appeared from time to time in our news columns, but just to bring to mind the extreme nature of the work that is performed by a class of spies whose work inav be called constructive, we mav mention that the roof of a Ger-man-owned factory, overlooking the greatest railway junction in I England, was" built of concrete,; three feet thick; tennis emu: • have been made for private p:opl i by Germans at a low cost that j would serve as a mount for Krupp 1 heavy seige howitzers. As a mat-

ter of fact, tennis courts so laid down in Belgium and France have been, and are being, so used. Large quantities of war material have been stored up in almost all large and important strategic centres of Germany’s prospective enemies’ countries, and in one case immense stone quarries in France were turned by Germans into storehouses, forls and shelter trenches, all formed of almost indestructible conerele. Germany lias set the world a lead in the art of “Playing Caleb” that will impress upon the greatest nations the wisdom of the saying that, “Eternal vigilance is the price of safety. ’ ’

OUR CORRESPONDEN CE COLUMNS.

j A letter for publication in our correspondence columns has been received from “Null Said,” but as th»> writer has omitted to attach or append any signature, we regret to have to inform our correspondent that the letter cannot appear . All letters for our eor- | respond rude column* must bear 1 tlto signature of the writer, not 1 necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. We know that a gi'eat many people re- , frain from making use of their | newspaper because they think i their identity becomes known i through those who work in the office, or by those who have occa--1 si on to frequently visit the office. 1 That is not so; there is no ground j for any such fear or idea. If a let- ; ter is carefully addressed, in a | sealed envelope, to the Editor, ho j alone will open it, and he alone ; will know who the winter is. We ; are pleased to be able to state that in the history of journalism the trust reposed in editors lias been Aery rarely abused, and then only by inexperienced or untrustworthy men who have failed to recognise the sacredness of the puhI lie trust that has been placed in | their keeping. On the other hand many editors have elected to go to prison rather than betray their i trust by divulging the identity ot their correspondents. The famous “Letters of Junius,” that were published in the Public Advertiser about 150 years ago. which was then edited bv a Mr. Wilkes, did much towards shaping the destiny of our Empire; and although they scathingly attacked men in the highest positions in England, not omitting the King',himself; and although no money was spared, and the talents of the ablest men of the (lay employed. Parliament itse! r being invoked, to assist in running the writer to earth, his name has never been discovered, and the authorship of those famous ! controversial writings remain an absolute secret to this present day. Even at this late hour some thousands of pounds would readily ho paid for documentary evidence that would clearly and definitely settle their origin ; but it is fairly safe to assume that when the writer and the editor of the Publi# Advertiser, Mr. ‘Wilkes, died, their secret went with them. We ha\e dealt with the subject of correspondence at length because we know it denotes a healthy, vigorous public spirit in any community when the correspondence columns in their newspaper are made use of as they should he, and which, by the usages of newspaper journalism from its inception, they have an unquestionable right to.