ENGLAND'S SECRET SERVICE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVI, Issue 22215, 20 March 1900, Page 2

ENGLAND'S SECRET SERVICE.

It is 'not generally known that the entire- official world of Europe is honey-combed by a gigantic system of espionage. "We have foreign spies in our v.ery midst, They are in our dockyards, our public offices, our fashionable clubs, our big hotels—everywhere, in fact, where information can be picked up likely to be of service to the Powers they represent. It is impost sible to detect these gentry, so simple are the avocations they follow. Who would suspect a chef, a waiter,, a clerk, or a labourer of being a paid agent of a foreign Power ? So Great Britain, powerless to cope with these undesirable visitors, de-cided-to do the best thing under the circumstances, and imitate the Continental countries, and to-day the British secret service is one of the most complete,, if not.the best,, in the world. Its modus operandi is, of course, kept rigidly from the knowledge of every one save a chosen few. Parliament votes £40,000 annually for its maintenance,, but bow this money is disbursed and what- is obtained for tho expenditure none but the very inner ring can hazard' more than a guess. The Secret Service remains to-day a sealed.book, the pages of which are jealously guarded from prying eyes. In, the gigantic clockwork of tho British Government the most insignificant causes often produce the most gigantic effects. An English Minister is perhaps called away from the dinner-table for a brief moment. Something- important- may have occurred, or perhaps the merest trifle claims his attention. He converses in a low tone with, a quietlydressed gentleman in the ante-room, and returns shortly to the table again. No ono takes the slightest notice. Tho Minister shows an unruffled brow, and the general conversation is re* newed. But in that short minute thefate of a Empire may have been sealed.

A good idea of the secrecy observed n affairs of State may be gained when several members- of Cabinet meet to-gether at a dinner. A messenger enters with a despatch, which he hands in a locked casket to one of the Ministers. Drawing his private key from his pocket, a Privy Councillor opens the casket; reads the despatch, replaces it, and, instead of passing it. on to his brother Minister at his elbow, relocks the casket and hands it back to the messenger. The same performance is repeated with every Cabinet Minister present. Great Britain may yet have a difficult task, before her in the Transvaal. But- the difficulty will certainly not be increased by an imporfect knowledge of the country with which she is at war. No public works have lately been undertaken in the Transvaal upon whose working staff some British agent has not secured a footing. So persistent, indeed, are the Secret Service emissaries that when recently great difficulty was experienced in gaining information respecting the strength of a fort outside Johannesburg, one of the British agents- actually committed an. offence against the laws of the Transvaal Republic on purpose to be put in the convict gang engaged in building the fort. During his sentence he kept his eyes and. ears wide open, with the result tliat the ‘ circle official ’ in London are now as wise as the authorities at Pretoria or Johannesburg. Who shall say, in the face of these facts, that the Secret Sorvice agents do not materially help to win England’s battles ?—Daily Mail..