WAR PRECAUTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 151, 2 December 1914, Page 3

WAR PRECAUTIONS.

ACTION IN AUSTRALIA POSITION OP CAPTAIN EDWARDS. Sydney, November 20. We are no longer surprised now when we learn of raids or visits of investigation made by the military at business and other establishments. Such visits, not known of before in this country, have become quite an order of the day. At latest the military have been to several plaqes in Melbourne whose business dealings 'relate mainly to pictures and picture framing. The general supposition is that the purpose was to discover evidence of , trading with the enemy. The proprietors of a couple of' the places visited are protesting emphatically against any assumption on the part of the general public that the military visits were due to there being something anti-British in the personnel of their establishments or in their business relations. In a statement in Parliament- the Commonwealth AttorneyGeneral, Mr Hughes, said the day before yesterday that while it was to be regretted that loyal citizens should be inconvenienced by any action taken by the Government under the recently-passed emergency legislation, it could not be admitted that such action was not justified even when no evidence was disclosed lipon Ivhich to bilae a, charge. The results of the enquiries so far had disclosed no evidence of trading .with the enemy in regard to eleven of the firms'or companies whose (premises had been visited, including, several big mining companies. The ex- i amination was" not yet complete in other cases, including that of the Big Brbkun Hill Proprietary Company. j The most interesting sequel to the J military raids made under' the War Precautions Act is the action taken by the authorities in connection with the Continental C. and G. Rubber Company Proprietary, Ltd, and its manager, Captain Edward Edwards. This company, , whose registered office is in Melbourne, has built up an extensive business In Australia. On the application of the Commonwealth .Government in the High Court, Mr Justice Isaacs has made an order, under the Trading with the Enemy Act, for the appointment of a controller to take charge of the business . of the company, 'flu: object is. to prevent any property or money going to the enemy. The court was" told in an affidavit by the Controller-General of Customs that the Minuter for Customs related that his Victorian Company was an off-shoot of a German company' called the "Continental Caoutchouc and Gutta Percha Compagnie, Hanover." The Victorian concern, whosp business consisted of the marketing of the wares of the Hanover principal company, was one of SOOO shares. Germans resident in Germany held 4997 of the shares. Only three of the shares were held here—one each by two directors, and one by the manager, Captain Edwards. It was alleged that since the outbreak of the war the Victorian Company had accumulated a very large sum of money, and had received from the German company instructions, to, if possible, remit money to the German company through 'neutral channels. Although the Victorian company had, as shown by cable correspondence read in court, replied to those instructions that it was impossible to remit as instructed, the Minister believed that the Victorian company would nevertheless try to send money* to Germany. The manager of the Victorian company was heard as a witness. He is a native of Germany, and he changed his name of Eichengrun to that of Edwards. He became naturalised some years ago. Military matters interested him considerably, and shortlv before the outbreak of the war he had Secured a commission as captain in the Volunteer Automobile Corps, in which capacity he did a good deal of highly esteemed work in topograhy, etc. In' the witness-box,_ Captain Edwards wa3 confronted with the translations of two letters written by tarn to his mother. In one of them' he wrote: "If there had been only IT or 18 Lmdens in this half of the globe, how diferent it would have been "He: admitted that when he wrote in the other letter about "better news" anil I take it that things are going well for us, lie meant news in favor of Germany and that matters were going well for the Germans. Mr Edwins, formerly Eichengrun, has now been deprived of his, military commission and interned by the c.- ' r of the Minister for Defence.