TO ATTACK ENGLAND.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 130, 4 February 1915, Page 3

TO ATTACK ENGLAND.

iIILRWIAbiV'B PREPARATIONS. INF-GRMATSOM SECURED BY SPIES. REMARKABLE PRE-WAR ARTICLE. On April 4, 1914—four months before the war started —William le Queux, the well-known English author, published in the "Saturday Journal' an article showing hew Germany was gathering information to assist her in the invasion of England. lie wrote: '"The jprci/ailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower class of my cvvn people is not friend ly to England." Such were the words uttered by the Kaiser on October 27, 1903. And since that date England has been cv-lrrun b5 r 'Gorman 'pi»iej». That they are actively at work is well known to ihe authcritis. Colonel Mark Loekwood was the first to eali the attention cf the House of Comment to tiiem when, in 1903, he ad dressed Questions to The Prime Minis ter and the Minister of War regarding the presence of German spies in Nor folk, Suffolk, Essex, and elsewhere It was owing to this agitation that the Official Secrets Act was amended, and the police are now able to arrest any person en suspicion of betraying r. secret of the State. A PERFECT ORGANISATION. The German spy is ever with us. 1 state here, without fear, for T know my facts, that there are more than five thousand secret agents ci' giu "friends'" across the North Sea resi dent at this moment in England. The German Secret Service, directed as it is mainly against England, is, to Ihost

"in the know," marvellously perfect The German may be slow., but be is thorough. He dees not possess the subtle ingenuity of the Turk, but he is coldly awake and ever businesslike. No good proposition is ever put up bj a spy which Germany doos not care fully consider.

Personally, I have had some dealing; with the spies of the Kaiser, and 1 write frcm my own experience. Once I wrote a book called "The Invasbn of England," which wa< translated into no fewer than 23 lan guages; but the Germans even wen' farther. It was published in hand., form, and is now adopted as a textbook for German array examinations! Truly The Day is the most dreamec cf event in all the Fatherland —the day when the Kaiser's Army makes it: sudden raid upon our shores. WELL PAID AGENTS. It has often been argued that the Germans do net require to pursue any system cf espionage in England while they can purchase our Ordnance maps at a shilling each. But do these Ordnance maps show the number ot horses and carts in a district, the stores of food and forage, the best way in which to destroy bridges, the lines of telegraph and telephone, and the places with which they communicate? Facts such as these, and many ethers, are being daily gathered by the spies who live amongst us, and elaborate, detailed reports of our armaments, the weaknesses in our de fencs, cur newest inventions, and the secrets cf our wireless station are thus collected by the chief spy of Germany—who lives in London and who la well-known to the authorities at Whitehall—and sent ever to Berlin, where they are all classified and tabulated.

German spies in England, be they hotel waiters .servants in private employ, or in pursuit of some trade or profession, are termed •'fixed posts.'' Tc each is allotted a single and dis tinct task, to investigate, to watch. ami J* epc.rt upon some fact which Germany desires to know. The "fixed pest" is, in turn, controlled by f "travelling agent," who visits him at certain intervals and collects the carefully prepared reports, wfhile eivjery six months an '-'inspection" is made and extra monetary grants given tc those who have been most successful The usual stipend of a German spy ii England ranges from about ten pound* to about thirty pounds,. according tc his or her position and the risk that must be run. The woik is actually al letted by the travelling agent—usually a Swiss, Belgian, or French man, seldom a German—and he is in return responsible to the chief cf the Secret Intelligence Bureau living in London The careful methods and ever-vigil ant watchfulness is astounding. From time to time German spies have been ai rested and imprisoned but the "game" gees steadily an, though our own authorities are ever watchful, and there are few German spies in England who are unknown to us

Messieurs the German agents would b e very much surprised if they only knew how much is known about them at Whitehall; and how constantly they are watched and their movements re ported upon. The name?, addresses and masses of details concerning them are preserved in a certain confidential department. If published, some of this would surely form sensational reading.

A TEAITOE IN OUlt MIDST. To my own knowledge there is one Englishman, a military officer, who is a spy of Germany. He was deeply in debt and living far beyond his means when, of a sudden, ho took a fine town house, furnished it elaborately, and now entertains upon a lavish scale, I have been his guest, and at the same

table have dined with four ne.nr.aa secret agents, in til. l and female --an i'Jteresling quartetto. The traitorous officer —alas! thul ho should bo an Englishman—ls still in niter ignorance thai- ill his dealings with ihe Gorman f titt-Li; <•"< <■>> Bureau arc known, and that a spy in our sevico in Berlin reports back to Whitehall all the information which ho furnishes and for which he receives such handsome payments. He fondly believes that his position in society places him above suspicion, yet he would long ago have been charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act were if not for the fact that a huge scandal would ensue and reflection be cast upon the British Army. Bui-.oic day in the very near future he will be called to Whitehall and told a few home truths regarding the punishment which should be meted out to traitors. And then the big West End mansion, where such cosy dinners are given, will lie vacant, and the popnl-t>' officer will seel: another clime.

At Chatham, nl Sheerness, Portsmonth, Plymouth—at all the naval .'nations, indeed—there are "fixed poses'-' constantly gathering naval information. Tii one place the spy carries on business in the guise of a hairdresser which •ailors and dockyard hands patronise; in another, he i«. the manager of a public house; in yet another, a- French to-. baeeonist; while even in the dockyard; Themselves Germany has her agents in rnrious guises, though no foreigner i. Ynowingly employed Ihere. riKCRET OF THE PORTMANTEAU. The German secret agent is full of dash and daring. It is on record that the head of a certain Government Department in London on going to his office unusually early one morning in order to get his letters and catch an early Train for golfing, was surprised to find the door open and the oTu-e cleaner sweeping the room. At his writing-desk stood a stranger—a foreigner—calmly going through his capers. The fellow, surprised, made a hurried exit, and in response to the official's inquiry, he found that the spy—as no doubt he was—had watched the woman go to the room ?.nd had handed her a five-pound note to allow him to glance through the contents of the desk. The woman, tempted by such * sum, had seen no harm in it, provided htat he took nothing awa\! A hue-ahft-cry was raised and search made for the ;py, but he was never again see::. From time to time the British amliorities have seized the actual notes made by German spies. In one ease, in 1909, a good-looking, middle-aged Gorman, living in lodgings in Glasgow, disappeared without paying his landlady, and leaving behind him a portmanteau. The woman, after a month, went to the police, who opened the portmanteau and found a. quantity of suspicious correspondence in German, forwarded it bo London, where it was translated, and the matter at once investigated. The portmanteau was found to belong to a certain Captain 8 ——, a German spy, who had evidently been alarmid by accidentally arousing the suspicions of a Glasgow detective, and. thinking discretion the better part of valour, had fled back to Germany witfctut having an opportunity of destroying or seizing his effects. The papers found proved extremely Instructive, for not only did they reveal the names of a number of other secret agents, but a copy of one of the •iphers was also discovered. A REMARKABLE DOCUMENT. As an illustration of how cavefully "rermany prepares facts concerning us —facts which will lie of inestimable value t > the enemy on The Day-- 1 cannot d>. bet - 'or than g'-ve a translation vi one of the actual documents founo in the German's portmanteau in Glasgow. To tiiose whose habit h to laugh it what they, in their ignorance, term 'the spy bogey," it will, perhaps, prove interesting reading.

EAST COAST OF ENGLAND. DISTRICT VI. Memoranda by. Captain W S . 114th Regiment Wesphalian Cuirasicrs, 1908. Weyboume—Norfolk, England. (Section coloured rod upon largo scale map. Photographs Series B, 21 to 386.) 'ln Sheringham and Cromer comprised !-n the District are resident 4(5 German subjects, mostly hotel, servants, waiters, and tradesmen, who have each been allotted their task on "The Day." Arms. —A store of arms is in a house it Rolling Heath, wheer on the receipt of the signal all will secretly assemble, and at a given hour surprise and hold up the coastguard at all stations in their district, cut all telegraphs and telephones shown upon the large map to be destroyed, wire in prearranged cipher to their comrades at Happisburgh, to seize the, German cable there, and take every precaution to prevent any fact whatsoever leaking out concerning the presence of our ships.

Men.—Every man is a trained soldier, and has taken the oath of loyaltv to your Imperial Majesty. Their leader is Lieutenant Bischoft'sheim, living in Tucker-street, Cromer, in the guise of a baker.

Explosives for Bridges.—These have been tored at Sandy Hill, close to Weybourne Station, marked on map. Landing Place. —Weybourne is the easiest and safest place along the whole caost. The coastguard station, on the east, has a wire to Cromer, which will be cut before our ships are in sight. In Weybourne village there is a

small telegraph office, but this will, at the same time, be *>?ii.ed by our people occupying en inn la ihr vicinity, a place which will bo recognised by the display of :>. Union Jack. Wires.—- Eight important wire? ran through here, five or which must he cut, as well as the trunk telephone. Direct communication with Beccles is obtained. Beach. —Hard, and an excellent road runs from the sea to the highwav south. For soundings, so' notes 'upoi British soundings. Admi"':!ty :hir: No. 1030 accompanying. Forge.—There is one at .io end >/ • !,, village. Provisions. —Grocers' shops in village arc srm.H, therforo do not contain much stock. There are plenty cf sheep and i.:eu in the district towards Gunton. (See aeeompany : ng lists <:< amount of live stock ajn> i each far.'M.) Motor Car-.—(List of o\. ners and addresses attached.) It will thus be .-een that Germany ~ slowly and surely preparing for -i sudden attack. Those who know will tc'ii you th?,t in East Anglia many publichouses are now managed by Germans. and that next door to many post-offices in the various towns ami villages ii Norfolk. Suffolk, and Essex live foreigners in readiness to seise or eat the telegraphs and telephones as their 0 r .iers may direct.