GUARDING MILITARY SECRETS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 233, 24 June 1915, Page 3

GUARDING MILITARY SECRETS.

LORD KITCHENER AND MARRIED MEN

In war time tlier arc numerous important State secrets which must he prevented from leaking out, and they are guarded by various ingenious devices. For instance, in Government offices the writing .on important documents is dried by means of roller-blot-ters. These consit of revolving cylinders covered with blotting paper, which are run over wet ink. The writing is impresed on the cylinder in a confused umble, impossible to decipher, as would be the case if the ordinary fla? blotter were used. In some cases black blottng paper is used to dry official let ters, as it is much safer than the pink or white variety. Important telogramn if not in code, often have to be, guarded from prying eyes by Government officials. For this purpose they use a simple little invention which consists of a telegraph form prepared with a perforated gummed edge. The message having been written the form is folded over and the gummed edges sealed downs in the case of a letter card, and tts contents art hidden from tTie messeng cr who carries it to the telegnph office. Each battleship carries a book r» code signals which holds the Kiev-in* of the little flogs which flutter at Urn *iast head when ships communicate The cods bor.l: is of immense importance, and st'tt precautions are taken against it falling into the hauls cf the enemyEacn volume Is heavily weighted with lead in the cover, so that in an imergency it can be thrown into the sea with the certainty that it will sink The code book is thrown overboard when a battleship is sinking or has been crippled by an enemy ship which is likely, to dispatch a boarding party.

In war time all Governments utilise cipher codes for communicating with their commanders in the field or with their ambassadors in neutral countries. Such ciphers are cleverly -worked out by an-official especially employed for the purpose. The object of official codes is to make them absolutely unintelligible to the ordinary person, whilst they can be read by the initiated by means of a simple key that can do memorised. It occasionally happens that the commanders in the field are obliged to communicate with one another by means of despatches written in plain language. In such cases elaborate precautions are taken against the communications falling into the hands of the enemy. They are secreted in the sole of a despatch-rider's boot, sewn into his clothing, or, as was described in a recent letter from the front, carried in the pneumatic tyre of a motor-cyclist’s machine.

Lord Kitchener has a policy of guarding important secrets by seldom entrusting them to any but unmarried men. During the many years that ho was busy upon the Mali cl i he did not have a married man upon his staff. If one of his stall wished to get married he had to bo transferred elsewhere, in case he should not prove capable of keeping military secrets from his wife.