COLOSSAL TASK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 179, 30 July 1932, Page 9

COLOSSAL TASK.

Work on British Conversion Loan. HUGE STAFF ENGAGED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, July 20. There are 4500 clerks exclusively occupied in the British War Loan conversion work, of whom 2400 are at the Bank of England. The staff's operations have been mechanised to a degreeMegaphones are used on every floor to convey general instructions to the staff. The magnitude of the task is shown by the fact that in the index room alone are 3,500,000 cards with 13,000,000 entries regarding stocks held in banks. The Post Office authorities also are proud of their achievement in dealing with 5,000,000. extra letters a month. Although the Government only promised the payment of the 20/ bonus within a fortnight the Post Office succeeded in dispatching the warrants within two days. Mr. Montague Norman, governor of the Bank of England, states that special arrangements to meet overseas applicants for the bonus will depend upon the date of mailing. If conversions are received in December from the Solomon Islands the bonus will be paid. Applications for conversion have now reached the 2,000,000 mark. Only 600,000 holdings remain to be dealt with. The Bank of England yesterday received 640,000 applications for conversion and 31,400 for redemption. The applications to the Post Office Savings Bank were 21,000, bringing the. aggregate to 690,000, of which over 606,000 were for conversion. Many holders who applied for redemption in cash have since cancelled their applications and have requested conversion. One such application yesterday was for £500,000.