"None of the men arrested in pursuance of the orders issued on August 4
has yet been brought to trial, partly because the officers whose
evidence would have been required were engaged in urgent duties in the
early days of the war, but mainly because the prosecution, by disclosing
the means adopted to track out the spies and prove their guilt, would
have hampered the Intelligence Department in its further efforts. They
were, and still are, held as prisoners under the powers given to the
Secretary of State by the Aliens Restriction Act. One of them, however,
who established a claim to British nationality, has now been formally
charged, and, the reasons for delay no longer existing, it is a matter
for consideration whether the same course should now be taken with
regard to some of the other known spies.
"Although this action taken on August 4 is believed to have broken up
the spy organisation which had been established before the war, it is
still necessary to take the most rigorous measures to prevent the
establishment of any fresh organisation and to deal with individual
spies who might previously have been working in this country outside the
organisation, or who might be sent here under the guise of neutrals
after the declaration of war. In carrying this out the Home Office and
War Office have now the assistance of the Cable Censorship, and also of
the Postal Censorship, which, established originally to deal with
correspondence with Germany and Austria, has been gradually extended (as
the necessary staff could be obtained) so as to cover communications
with those neutral countries through which correspondence might readily
pass to Germany or Austria. The censorship has been extremely effective
in stopping secret communications by cable or letter with the enemy;
but, as its existence was necessarily known to them, it has not, except
in a few instances, produced materials for the detection of espionage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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