WHEN THE BANK PAYS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21084, 8 February 1934, Page 10

WHEN THE BANK PAYS

COOKED AND TATTERED NOTES Of all the domestic accidents responsible for the destruction of paper money—and their variety is amazing—the most common is cooking a meal in an oven in which notes have been hidden for safety. The housewife hides the notes; a daughter returns in her absence and decides to make some scones; later a tearful woman brings a little heap of ashes to the bank in a matchbox, and asks whether anything can be done about it. That is one of the most frequent "hard luck" stories the bank cashier hears, states the Melbourne "Argus." Sometimes something can be done. If the authorities are convinced that the remains are of genuine notes, and if the numbers can be read and checked, the full value of the note is paid. The same number appears at each end of a note. It only one number is recovered, half the value is paid. But even if the notes be completely destroyed, and the owner has kept a record of the numbers, he may make a statutory declaration, provide a satisfactory indemnity bond to protect the bank against fraud, and receive the value of the destroyed notes.

Mutilated notes generally come from people who have been too careful One woman, wishing to hide a £5 note from thieves, put it in the bottom of a gas lamp chimney in an unused room A member of the household lit the a^ P ' /! nd j > the note was destroyed. After the disastrous bush fires at Noojee a tradesman rejoiced because § S stable in which he had hidden £4O was saved. He searched for the notes on a roof beam, but thev were missing. In the rebuilding that followed the notes were discovered lining a rats nest in another part of the stable. They had been chewed but they were recognisable, and the bank redeemed them. A farmer who carried £IOO in his overall pocket for safety dropped the roll into the chafTcutter. He recovered £9B from the shreds which he winnowed from the

Recently a bank in Melbourne redeemed a £1 note that had been bitten into more than 100 pieces by a pet cockatoo. . Another was redeemed alter a mischievous child had 'cut it into confetti" with a pair of scissorsi to play "weddings," and the bank s jig-saw puzzle expert had pieced it together again. But the best story the banks tell is of a man who thewlfl nf att , ending . thc races against the will of a shrewish wife because he had a "good thing." The "good thing" Zfih n e s ° ught to Placate his wife of a £l ° note from his winnings. In a rage she tore it into took to Pl |h e ®' v/hich the husband iook io the bank. There th<=> -ii* saw puzzle girl built up a complete note from the pieces, and the £lO was