The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1915. BRITAIN'S PERIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1915. BRITAIN'S PERIL.

l ate in April William L<! Quoux, a 'British author, issued a book with the title, "Britain's Deadly Peril." The next day the volume 'was suppressed by the British censor under instructions from the War Ollice. Of course, copies of the proscribed volume have found their way into America, and, quite naturally, ex. tracts figure on the front pages of leading -United States newspapers. It may not be generally known that Le Queux was at one time a member of the British Secret Service, a close friend of the late Lord Roberts and other high-placed Englishmen, and author of various works seeking to arouse his fellow-countrymen to t.he danger from German spies. He devot.es page-: to bitter denunciation of the British Government. Tie tells hovr lie personally (accompanied by several odicers, expert at reading the Morse and other '.signalling codes) had seen signals flatbed at night by German spies from points in England, how he flashed like signals back and received answers, only to be rcbufl'eil when he reported on such things to the Government. One of his most striking acnusations in the suppressed book is that Great Britain is actually feeding the German armies trying to crush her out of existence, actually providing them with necessities like eooca and tea, while at the same time the prices of these, and other foodstuffs in (he nritish Isles are rising to heights placing them beyond the reach of tile poor. The censorship, lie insists, is the root of all the evil now threatening England. Had Englishmen been allowed from the start of the -war to get a clear idea of its tremendous import to them. he says, tliey would have wakened up at once, forced the Government to prohibit exnoris through neutral countries to Germany, demanded and obtain, ed the most drastic action against spies, and (locked in tens of thousands to the recruiting stations, convinced that every able bodied Englishman waa needed at the front. In-tc.'id of sitting calmly at hi-.u'e. Ui!!c>l.<bv (be non-committal, optimistic bits of news allowed by the cells'"' ini" feeling that all w;i- going well, thai i',e cival danger was past. the Germans deanitcly forced back. Taking up the subject of exporis. Mr. f.e Queux makes the sensational statement that, in December, January and February last, exoo'-ts of cocoa, from England to neutral "unirio.: reached a total of Irt.iiTo.017 pound-,, while for tile corresponding neriod of 101" tliey were only j.tltin pounds. Before the war, he points out, Holland v.;:- an exporter of cocoa lo England : ■ iiice (be war she lias been the principal importer. "There is amass of IndiM'i'-l a b!e evidence.'' be adds, "lo -how that ic -illy (he whole of our exporis of cocoa ha," found fll< ie way to Germany throiedi tii'- ; , '.aiine!.'' For a' while. says M:-. IMiidi:,. (1... Tinti-l. n.nvnie ee 1 ! ■.; ,C 1 i !'■ e • id' cocoa ; !I|,IV. however, the prohibition is removed, and 'the old game of supplying the German

army ivith .cocoa from England will begin again. The Gorman army must also have tea,'' lie continues. "Lot us see how we have supplied it." According to him, during the first fortnight of war export was restricted and only CO,(Mb were sent out of England, whereas for the correspondent .period of the previous year 179,1431b were exported; during the next three months, the restrictions having been removed, d0,808,0281b were sent away—"the greater part of it by round, about channels to Oermany"— against 1,M(1,2371b for the corresponding period in 1013. After three months, he says, a modified restriction was placed upon the export of tea, but after reckoning the whole sum ife is found that "during the time we have'been at 'war we have sent abroad over 20,000,0001b of tea, while in the corresponding period of the previous year we sent only a little over 2,000,000 lb!" He adds:

Csow, where has it gone? Tn August and September lust (lermany veeeived from Hollaii'' I'll ("lO.linOlb, whereas in that perioil i ' I'll;! glut received only I,OOO,(KMWb. Tea is given as a stimulus to German trooips in the field, so we sec how the l»i'itis ! ii Government has been tricked into actually feeding the enemy! Mr. iLe Queux has also something to .say about the subject of food prices in Britain: It is f|uite clear to my mind that the pr'.ccs of food are being forced up "by gigantic unpatriotic, combines, either in the country or abroad, or 'both. I do not think that mere shortage of supply is suflitiient to account for the extraordinary advances that have taken place. Whether the Government can take steps to defeat the wheat "rings," as they did to prevent the cornering of sugar, is a question with w'hicii lam not concerned here. . . If we turn to coal, we find the scandal ten times greater than in the case of flour and meat. It is at least possible that agencies outside our own country may lie playing, a great part in forcing up the prices of food; they can have 110 effect on the price of coal, which we produce ourselves, and of Tvliich 'we do not import an ounce. Coal to-day is simply at famine prices. It is impossible to buy the best house coal for less than 38s per ton, while the cheapest is being sold at 34s per ton, and the very poor, who buy from the street trolleys only inferior coal and in Email quantities, are being fleeced to the extent of Is lid or 2s per 'hundredweight. This is an exceedingly serious matter, ?id it is not to be explained, even under present conditions, by the ordinary laws of supply and demand. Why should coal in a. village on the banks of the Thames be actually cheaper than the corresponding quality of coal when sold iu London? There can. be only one answer—the London suoplv is in the hands of the coal ring, which has compelled all' tlie London coal merchants to come into line. . .

The Govornment has promised an enquiry, which may, if unusual expedition is shown, ma.ke a' "demonstration" with the coal dealers just about the time tlie ■warm weather arrives. Prices will thei tumble, the Government 'will solemnly pnt itself upon tile hack for its fill interference, nnd the coal merchants, having made small or large fortunes, -will make a great virtue of reducing their demands to oblige the Government. In the meantime the poor are lieing fleeced in the interests of an unscupulous combine. Ia there no peril here to our hehived (-(Wintry? Are we not justified in saving that the nnichiiuitions of these gum's of unscrupulous capitalists are rapidly tending to produce a condition of affairs which at any moment expose us to a social upheaval which would contain all the germs of an unparalleled disaster?

Mr. Le Queux is 'by 110 moans of the Imj. lief that a German invasion of England is (beyond the bounds of probability, and lie thinks that most English people Invj hero also been lulled into 'false security by tiio methods of the censorship. Among those, lie says, who appreciated the peril at its true value was the late Lord Rob-

erts, yet many people met his warnings with "il'oor ißobs! He is getting so old!" Mr. Le Queux is sure that it would be possible for the Germans, aided by their spies in England, to land suddenly at some spot on the east coast a sufficient number of troops to work terrible havoc before tliey were overpowered. "And we must not forget," he writes, "that, if they ever get the chance, their atrocious, treatment of the British population will be a thousand times worse than anything thov have, done in France and "Belgium. That I'act ought to sink deeply into the public mind." Instead, however. of driving such things into the public mind, declares i.\fr. Le Queux, the Government is again "muddling through somehow," thwarting the efforts of civilians to organise themselves for home defence, everywhere fostering the unjustified feeling that all is well, for those responsible for this lie foresees drastic punishment. He prophesies that when the veil is lifted after the war some men Bow high in authority and influence -will be driven into oblivion by an incensed populace, which shows that he doesn't Understand his compatriots even yet!