ASSEMBLING MUTILATED NOTES

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 March 1934, Page 14

ASSEMBLING MUTILATED NOTES

o F 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, says a writer in the “Melbourne Argus.” The housewife hides the notes; a daughter returns in her absence and decides to make some scones; later a tearful "woman takes a little heap of ashes to the bank in a match-box, and asks whether anything .can >be done about it.

That is one of the most frequent “hard luck” stories the bank cashier hears. 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. If 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, lie 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 cargful. One woman, washing to hide a £5 note from thieves, put it in the bottom of a gas lamp chimney in an unused room. A

Jig-Saw Puzzles for Bank Experts

member of the household lit the lamp and the note was destroyed: After the disastrous bush fires at Noojee a tradesman rejoiced because part of a stable in which he had hidden £3O was saved. He searched for the notes on a roof beam, but they 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 1 , but they were recognisable*, and the bank 1 redeemed them. j A' farmer who carried' £loo' in his ' overall pocket for safety dropped the j roll into the chaffcutter. He recovered 1 £9S from the shreds which he winnowed from the chaff. i Recently a bank in 'Melbourne redeemed a* £1 note that had been bitj ten into more than 100 pieces by a peti cockatoo. Another was redeemed after j a mischievous child had cut it into ' “confetti” with a pair of scissors, to I play “weddings,” and the bank’s jigsaw puzzle expert had pieced it tn- ! gothor again. ) The best story the banks tell is of a j man who insisted on attending the ; races against the will of a shrewish [ wife because he had a “good thing.” i ppe "good thing” won, and he sought ! to placate his wife with a present of a ! £lO note'from his winnings. In a rage ' she tore it into' small pieces, which the husband took to the bank. There the jig-saw puzzle girl built up a complete note from the pieces, and the £lO was paid.