£500 IN ASHES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10450, 3 December 1927, Page 11

£SOO IN ASHES

P.O. HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT Every morning a postbag is delivered' to a little-lcnown departmentin the General Post Office building in St. Martins-le-Grand, London, containing pathetic notes or little heaps of ashes that once were Treasury notes. They arrive at the rate of about 200 every day. 1 lie little human documents toil pitiful tales of how tlie notes were torn by the baby, chewed by the dog. mildewed by constant storage in a hole in the wall, or burnt in an oven where they had been placed for safe keeping. The- department which receives them traces the history of the relics, and when the officials have satisfied themselves that they are the iemains of real notes th© losers receive- their value. Every vear this department deals with mutilated Treasury notes of a value which would represent a large fortune, and at the present time it has records of more than 1.000,000 pieces of paper which represent what were once crisp notes. If more were known of the department their work would be greatly increased. A G.P.O. official said:— “We arc constantly receiving little heaps- of ash which are declared to be all that is left of so many notes. Such asli is sent to the Inland Revenue Department for minute examination by scientists... “ They are able to find out how many notes the ash represents, and when this is done we pay out the loss. Recently we had £SOO in burnt notes sent us. The loser was paid in a month."