Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-11-11


land. was disturbed by a very unusual
incident. Two men landed at mid
night from a small rowing-boat near
the Tipnor powder magazine, an i'm
pOrtant depot used as a store for all
the military explosives at Portsmouth,
which is guarded day and night by
armed sentries. The sentry chal-
lenged them twice, but as the men
disregarded the challenge he fired.
The intruders thcreupon rushed back
to the boat and vanished into the
darkness.
While In certain quarters II Is al
legged that the Importance of this in
cident has been exaggerated, and that
II IL probable that the men acted In
ignorance rather than with any mis-
Chievous intentions. the general opin-
ion seems to be that the incident pro-
vides another striking illustration Of
the daring of foreign spies.
As n matter of fact, spying In great
" on the increase, and Lord Iialdane,
realizing this fact, has introduced Il
new bill, In which II Is proposed to
innict heavier penalties on persons
found In prohibited places. and those
who make any sketch. note, model
or plan likely to be useful to an
enemy.
Harboring Spies.
In the existing act these offences
are classed as misdcmeanors, the
penalty being Imprisonment for one
year, with or without hard labor, ana
a fine, or either. in the new bill
these offences are classed as teloly'
and the penalty is not less than three
years nor more than seven years
penal servitude IA very drastic
change. Persons attempting to COM
nit an offence of this kind. or melt
ing others, are liable to similar penal
ties.
Another new provision relates to
"harboring spies" This offence IL
classed as misdemeanor. ana Tue
person IL liable to Imprisonment Tor
twelve months, with hard labor, ana
Il fine. Power Is also given to JUS
tees to grant search warrants, or III
cases of urgency sups rintehueh' vi
police may himself give written au-
tlori,y for a search In the interest,"
of the state. t......
Not 10 Be Trusted.
II Is not an easy matter. however
TO catch these spies. few months
ago a German officer was arrested foI
making sketches of the harbor de-
fences of Portsmouth. But for every
spy caught there are hundreds who
are never discovered. or who, II they
are, are quietly dispatched out Of the
country to save international troubles
The greatest danger. however. lies
In British soldiers and sailors be-
,raying their trust and selling plans
which IL would be almost Impossible
Tor a foreigner to obtain. To INT
credit of both services, 1t should be
said that such cases are very rare
indeed. But II Is nevertheless iac
that some time ago plan Of the de-
fences of Malta, the great Mcditcrra
rear fortress, second only in Valu'
to Gibraltar, was sold by a renegade
who had worn the uniform OF tn
British Army And.there was an out
,ry against the inadequacy OF the
sentence of twelve months passed II
Manchester on this spy, who betrayed
information which would enable
uossible enemy to prepare schem'
for the reducing of Malta ana TN
wrestling Of the island from the Brit
ish crown. 1t was not the Judge "h'
was to blame. however, but the ne
fects in the law which enabled sp.
IN escape with punishment whic'
would have been meted out to com
mon ielon.
What was more startling still wa
the fact, revealed by the military cor
respondent of the Times, that this spy
when arrested, was actually bargain
ing for the selling of plans of Gibral
tar itself to a foreign power.
Lord MeInucn ana the Spy.
About the same time it was learne
that a detailed description of our sub
marine defences had disappeared frol
the room of high official. whic
meant to say that the whole schem
of our islands submarine defence
was reposing Ia the archives of
foreign power. and that the latte
knew the site of every mine at Ports
mouth and Plymouth. so that, at I'll
call of battle. its warships coul
thread their way with ease throng
the passage left for the passing
British squadrons. or course, u
schemes of defence In such cases ~
being continually changed: but u
mere fact that such plans could di'
appear provides remarkable illu'
tration of the success with whic
these international spies meet
II is not long since Lord Methue
and Colonel iIaldane met, in Berl
shire. foreign spy, who. not know
ing who they were, asked for detail'
information about the width of Il
roads. Plans for the invasion of En-
land by synchronons raids are no
in the possession of the War Ollie
One of them was tested short tin
ago by party of English officer
and II wna fnunl that the main tp