THOSE BANK NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 20, 18 October 1907, Page 7

THOSE BANK NOTES.

I; ' ' " FIVERS " FOR PIPE, LIGHTS. The cancelled Bank of Australasia notes which were taken from tho hold of tho Turakina wore valueless bills that, before their cancellation, were worth botween £60,000 and £70,000. They were notes that had been withdrawn from circulation in.Dimedin, and after the signature had been ,cut off and each noto branded "Cancelled" in two placos, woro being shipped Homo, through tho medium of tho Nev.' Zealand Expro& Company, to tho head office in Londo?i, where they woro printed. Mr. Wobstor, Acting-Inspector, informed a " Dominion" representative that when tho notes wero forwarded to the. Dominion tho numbors woro kopt on record, then when tlioy woro returned the record was gone ovei' and their numbers 'woro marked out. It was ascertained that they wero shipped as ordinary cargo, and tho officers of the New Zoaland Shipping 'Company had no intimation that they wero. bank notes. Had they known what tho box contained they would cortainly not liavo placed it amongst tho genoral cargo, oven though they woro cancelled and, 'therefore,, valuoless. Cancelled notes had been shipped Homo' locally beforo, but the Company had always' beon advised what tho.v woro, and had seen that they wero put in a safe place. Tho inan who first informed tho local manager of the Bank of Australasia had a hunch of notes in his possession, and said that hundreds of others wero floating about in tho hold. He got a sovoroign for his trouble, and was told to collect as many as ho could, so ho waded into tho black liquid, skimming tho bank notes off tho wator and stuffing them in a bag, which now lies in tho vaults of tho Bank—just a mass of pulp. It is related that ono of tho men who got hold of tho notes was having quito a "millioiiairy" time of it in ono of tho local hotels. Ho shouted for all hands over and over again, lit his pipo with "fivors," and was so extravagant that the barmaid informed somo otlior customers that be was quito mad —ho was throwing away a fortune.