DENS OF FORGERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 10, 13 January 1926, Page 7

DENS OF FORGERS.

AN EPIDEMIC IN EUROPE. ARREST OF COUNTERFEITERS LONDON, January 12. A message from Berlin states that an epidemic of banknote forgery has smitten Central Europe. Den after den of forgers is being discovered in Germany. These include a band of four Berlin residents who have devoted themselves for a year to the manufacture of spurious Bank of England £5 notes. The printing press and many false notes have been seized. The plant includes lithograph plates from Gerstenberger. One of the arrested men is a firstgrade draughtsman. He originally copied Bank of England notes by hand, but this process proving too slow to be lucrative, a lithographer was added to the gang. The authorities in London, however, state that there has been no increase in Bank of England forgeries, which are somewhat below the ordinary average. Apparently few of these German notes have passed the vigilant eyes of the English authorities. A dispatch from Budapest states that the counterfeiting has now affected Italy. Dr. Svetz, a leading Magyar, has been arrested on a charge of placing large sums of counterfeit lire. It is alleged that two politicians, Yon Eckhardt and Ulain, are involved. A request has been made that their Parliamentary immunity shall be cancelled so as to permit of their prosecution. ■ Yon Eekhardt attacks the Govern-' ment for yielding to the agitation, which he says has been engineered by the foreign Press. — (A. and N.Z. Cable.) ,