Britain's Deadly Peril: Are We Told the Truth?Le Queux, William
History
Britain's Deadly Peril: Are We Told the Truth?
Le Queux, William
Secret service -- Germany; Spies; World War, 1914-1918
Let us further examine the facts. Mr. McKenna, in a speech made in the
House of Commons on November 26th on the subject, said: "The moment the
War Office has decided upon the policy, the Home Office places at the
disposal of the War Office the whole of its machinery." On March 3rd
the Home Secretary repeated that statement, and declared, in a retort
made to Mr. Joynson-Hicks, that he was not shirking responsibility, as
_he had never had any_! Now, if this be true, why did Mr. McKenna make
the communiqué to the Press soon after the outbreak of war, assuring us
that there were no spies in England, and that all the enemy aliens were
such dear good people? I commented upon it in the _Daily Telegraph_ on
the following day, and over my own name apologised to the public for
my past offence of daring to mention that such gentry had ever existed
among us. If Lord Kitchener were actually responsible, then one may ask
why had the Home Secretary felt himself called upon to tell the public
that pretty fairy-tale?
Now with regard to the danger of illicit wireless. Early in January
1914--seven months before the outbreak of war--being interested in
wireless myself, and president of a Wireless Association, my suspicions
were aroused regarding certain persons, some of them connected with an
amateur club in the neighbourhood of Hatton Garden. Having thoroughly
investigated the matter, and also having been able to inspect some of
the apparatus used by these persons, I made, on February 17th, 1914, a
report upon the whole matter to the Director of Military Intelligence,
pointing out the ease with which undesirable persons might use
wireless. The Director was absent on leave, and no action was taken in
the matter.
A month later I went to the Wireless Department of the General Post
Office, who had granted me my own licence, and was received there with
every courtesy and thanked for my report, which was regarded with
such seriousness that it was forwarded at once to the Admiralty, who
have wireless under their control. In due course the Admiralty gave
it over to the police to make inquiries, and the whole matter was, I
suppose--as is usual in such cases--dealt with and reported upon by a
constable in uniform.
Here let me record something further.
In February last I called at New Scotland Yard in order to endeavour to
get the police to make inquiry into two highly suspicious cases, one
of a person at Winchester, and the other concerning signal-lights seen
north-east of London in the Metropolitan District. I had interviews
with certain officials of the Special Department, and also with
one of the Assistant Commissioners, and after much prevarication I
gathered--not without surprise--that no action could be taken _without
the consent of the Home Office_! How this latter fact can be in
accordance with the Home Secretary's statement in the House of Commons
I confess I fail to see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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