HOARDING MONEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 306, 28 December 1931, Page 8

HOARDING MONEY.

FIJI INDIANS' HABIT. FEAR OF POLITICAL ACTION. ' STOREKEEPER LOSES £80. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, December 23. The average Indian in Fiji will not bank his money. It is said that this attitude is chiefly due to a fear that, should there be any estrangement between Britain and India, the Government might seize the funds of all Indians. Be that as it may, the fact remains that many Indians keep large sums in their houses, and some bury the cash in the ground.

An Indian storekeeper named Palad, in Suva, bad £1980 in bis safe, and perhaps more in a second safe in bis sleeping room. Last Tuesday nigbt be shut up tlie store as his family went to the pictures, and, taking off his European clothes, donned light Indian attire, and went out by the back door, -which he left unlocked. He also left the isafe keys in his trousers pocket. When he returned in about 20 minutes, he heard a noise in the store, and, going in, found a Madrassi woman trying to get out by the front door. He seized her, and held her while be made sure that the till was intact. Then he let her go. Later he found that the safe had been opened with his key, and £80 taken, with a quantity of jewellery. The police, found the woman in a new dress, and loud in protest of her innocence.

So far no money has been found, but the woman is under arrest.