CRIMINAL INGENUITY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3785, 1 September 1883, Page 4

CRIMINAL INGENUITY.

Tho ingenuity displayed in some of the Instruments devised by coiners and burglars, often involving tho application of elaborate scientific principles, and the patient industry and persorvorance with which nefarious schemes arc matured and carried out, arc qualities which, in their legitimate exercise, would realise for their possessor nn income beyond any gains that his unlawful endeavors can bring, even were theso devoid of risk and not liable to failure. Wo read, for instance, of a clipping machine, by means of which tho body of a sovereign is separated from tho " milled rim which encircles it, a thin slice _ cut out of tho centre, leaving the two faces intact, the loss supplied by amalgam, and tho coin then dexterously put together again, so that neither tho weight nor tho ring of it is greatly altered. One would imagine that the amount of gold thus obtained would hardly cover tho working expenses. At best the profit must 'yield a much lower percentage on the invested capital than what it would return in honest business. It is surprising also to note what a charm small frauds have for people not usually included in tho criminal classes; and nowhere is this exemplified to a greater extent than in tho passion for potty smuggling which seems inherent in tho breast of travelling humanity. Men who Avould scorn to make an imperfectly obliterated postage stamp do duty a second time, and whose integrity in all other affairs of lifo is unimpeachable, will plot and plan all sorts of cunning devices by which they may cheat Her Majesty's Custom House, and will even spend more in "tips " to allude tho yigikneo of the officers in "running " cigars and spirits which they do not want than they would havo to pay for legal duty. Possibly the law's delay—or the delay which it occasions—-may afford some cause, if not excuse, for this ; the weary waiting and vexation of soul attending the baggage seacli being tho most disagreeable incident of it, veyago. —Chamber's Journal.