HOW TO TEST SPURIOUS COIN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LII, Issue 9188, 7 September 1906, Page 7

HOW TO TEST SPURIOUS COIN

At the London Criminal Court, recently, there has been an exceptional number of charges of making and uttering counterfeiting coin. At the conclusion of one of the cases the foreman of the jury asked the authorities if they would take a suggestion from 12 business men, who, during the year, had to deal with considerable sums in silver 00011. There was a most simple test for the detection of base coin. It was to sharply cut the milled edge of a good coin against the milled edge of the suspected' coin. If .the suspected coin were a. spurious one, the metal would almost immediately begin to shave off. It was, he added, a test that could be carried) out anywhere, on the top of a bus or in a shop, and the public ought to be acquainted with it. After making a personal test, the Common Sergeant said he quite agreed' with the suggestion of the jury as to the usefulness of t?he Jbestj and said it ought to be made known. The foreman added that he had written to three Chancellors of the Exchequer, pointing out that they ought not to deprive the public of this simple test by issuing crown pieces amd threepenny pieces without milled edges.

There are endless complaints in Lodon of the motor ous inuisance. The 'buses appear to have solid tyree, and make a noise, besides which the ordinary roar of traffic in London pales into insignificance. The case of the residents on the east side of Onslow square is one of the worst an London. From early morning until long after midnight the ommbuses thunder by in an endless chain, and as the houses are near the roadway the full effect of the dust, noise, odor, and vibration is felt •by the occupiers. "It is* like being in a railway station, and hearing an express go roaring through," stated one of the residents. - "I have brought yon here to the very back of the house because it is about the only place where one can talk, but even here, as you see, the ornaments are continually shaking."