SECRET OF GERMAN DYES.

Taihape Daily Times, 9 May 1918, Page 6

SECRET OF GERMAN DYES.

DOGGED BY SPIES. f" HOW THE BECIPES WERE OBTAINED. That Great Britain has captured Germany's recipes for making dyes is announced with, glee by the London daily press. It appears that group of men in the British textile trade succeeded in obtaining in Switzerland the «ecret recipes of the German dye-in-dustry. The merchants who have captured the recipes, the Daily Mail says, do not intend to form a monopoly but to offer the recipes to the British Government for use in already established works. Their sole desire, they say, 3s to secure for the whole textile industry of England a full and cheap supply of fast dyes. To quote further: "Two men were chiefly instrumental in capturing the recipes. They are ; ■John Leyland and Richard Baldry, London textile merchants. Tow years «go they heard of a chemist in Switzerland who possessed the recipes for ■the Badische aniline dyes and sent a lepresentative to get in touch with •Mm, Later they obtained the assistance of the British Government and -were allowed to obtain help from I\ M. Bow, of the Manchester School of Technology, a leading dye chemist, who went to Switzerland where h© conducted tests with the recipes, which "were entirely satisfactory. The Foreign Office detached a consular officer to watch the experiments and certify

"their correctness. SURROUNDED BY SPIES. "Ley-land speaking to a Daily Mail representative said: *' 'We are indebted to the Foreign Office for placing every facility at our 4flisposal. In feet, without the aid of the Foreign Office it is doubtful whether we could have got the samples »r recipes to England. Our agent was dogged by German agents on every journey he made to Switzerland. His baggage was stolen, he was drugged And assaulted, and thrown into the jjutter. Once he was followed by two anen as far as Eavre. He reported the facts to the French authorities, and "they succeeded in capturing two undoubted German agents.

" 'On one occasion he was travelling with, a diplomat whose baggage t. a 3 marked with the same initials as his own. This man's baggage was also etrlcn on route.

'* 'We are prepared to sell" the recipes to the Government for use in the Government dye-works and to allow snajor portion of the profit to go to "the nation on the understanding that "the dyes will be sold freely to all British manufacturers who require them ia their industries. There is hardly an industry in England which does not use dyes in one form ot another.

"The Daily Mail says that on a ■cheap supply of dyes depend British "textile industries "with an output of more than a billion dollars a year_ "The dye monopoly before the war gave Germany an export trade in fine chemicals of 487,500,000 dollars, according to Professor Grossmann. It also gave ier almost a complete monopoly in ■the output of certain explosive gases, photographic ' chemicals',, drugs and aources of power derived from splitting :xrp petroleum and gas-tar products."