No Forged Bills Found

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 1

No Forged Bills Found

No forged Australian $lO bills have been found in Christchurch in checks by city banks. The National Bank of New Zealand, which services the duty-free shop at Christchurch Airport, began inspecting large supplies of its 10-dollar notes yesterday after receiving advice of the characteristics of the forged notes. A bank official said the easiest way to distinguish between the genuine and forged notes was to place the note face down.

If the note was genuine, the water-mark on the right, bottom corner stood out clearly If the note was forged, this water-mark did not show.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (Dr.

H. C. Coombs) has warned that the forged notes have a waxy feeling and can be distinguished by the bogus “wire” through the paper. In an advertisement in the “Australian Financial Review,” published on Wednesday, he says that on the front the wording "Ten dollars” is somewhat blurred. The numerals “10” are somewhat blotchy, especially on the right side of the note. The forged notes were discovered in Melbourne last Friday. Banks in other parts of New Zealand made careful

checks of their stocks of Australian funds yesterday for counterfeit Australian bills, the Press Association reported.

One large Auckland hotel Is refusing to change any Aus-

trallan lOdollar notes. At other overseas tourist hotels, staff has been instructed to consult the manager before cashing any of the notes. The Bank of New South Wales, whose turn it is this month to operate the banking branch at Auckland airport, changed about 15,000 dollars worth of Australian 10-dollar bills.

Commercial Bank of Australia tellers at Wellington airport over the holiday period double-checked every Australian 10 dollar note they received but found nothing suspicious. Australia and New Zealand Bank staff changing Australian currency for New Zealand money aboard the liner Queen Frederika from Hobart were armed with newspaper clippings setting out dif-

ferences between the genuine and spurious notes. Commenting on a suggestion that a counterfeit note could be a valuable find for coin collectors, a Wellington coin dealer, Mr Goodier, said dealers would be bound to hand over any counterfeit currency to the authorities. “If someone tucked a note away for 20 years it could have some curiosity value then, but at the moment these notes ar e too ‘hot’ to handle.” he said.

The Reserve Bank’s chief cashier, Mr R. N. Fleming, did not rule out the possibility that coin dealers might be interested in the counterfeit notes, but he said it was unlikely dealers would ever get the chance to buy any. Being in possession of counterfeit money is an offence.