We have, of late, been told a good deal of the danger of secret agents among the alien staffs of hotels, and, in deference to public opinion, the authorities have cleared our hotels of all Germans and Austrians. Though holding no brief for the alien servant, I must say, at once, that I have never known one single instance of a hotel servant of lower grade being actually proved to be a secret agent. It is a fact, however, that among the hall-porters of some of the principal hotels were, until the outbreak of war, several well-known spies. The class of person who is much more dangerous is the so-called "naturalised" alien. Among these are, no doubt, spies, men who have long ago taken out naturalisation papers for the sole purpose of blinding us, and of being afforded opportunities to pursue their nefarious calling. To-day, while thousands of men who have for years worked hard for a living are in idleness in detention camps, these gentry are free to move about where they will because they are so-called British subjects. Surely the heart of a German is always German, just as the heart of a true-born Briton is always British, whatever papers he may sign. I contend that every German who has been "naturalised" during the last seven years should be treated as other aliens are treated, and we should then be nearer the end of the spy-peril. "Naturalised" foreign baronets, financiers, merchants, ship-owners, and persons of both sexes of high social standing, constitute a very grave peril in our midst, though Mr. McKenna has not yet appeared to have awakened to it, even though the Press and the public are, happily, no longer blind to the German preparations. In the month of November, while spies were being reported in hundreds by the public themselves, the Home Office was actually engaged in holding an inquiry _into whether there had really been any atrocities committed by the German soldiery in Belgium_! And I was officially asked to assist in this! As far as can be gathered from Mr. McKenna's reply in November to the Parliamentary attack on the methods of dealing with the spy peril, the position was still a most unsatisfactory one. Though he admitted that we still have 27,000 enemy aliens at large among us, nobody is assumed to be a spy unless he is an unnaturalised German. Even if he fulfils this condition, he is then to be caught "in the act" of spying, or if really strong suspicion be aroused, some evidence against him may be "looked for." But until this is "found," and so long as he complies with the posted-up registration orders, etc., he may continue unmolested. In short, after the steed is stolen, our stable door may be shut. One sighs in despair. Could anything be more hopeless? If the matter were not so very serious, the position would be Gilbertian in its comedy.