SPURIOUS BANK NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14977, 24 April 1909, Page 3

SPURIOUS BANK NOTES.

* A CLEVE& FORGER'S WORK. CHRISTCHURCH SHOPKEEPERS VICTIMISED. In January last between £6OO and £7OO worth of cancelled Bank of New Zealand bank notes, ranging in denominations from one-pound to ten-pound, and a quantity of jewellery and plate, were stolen from a safe in the parcels office of the General Post Office, Wellington, but although a man had been posted as "wanted" in connection with tho theft, no trace of him or any of the property was discovered until last week. It was believed at the time that the stolen notes and other articles were removed to Australia and that the perpetrator of the robbery had also left the dominion. On Saturday and Monday last, however, the local detective force was warned that some of the cancelled notes ""were being circulated in Christchurch. The notes stolen from tho parcels office were all cancelled by punching a round hole, about the size of a shilling-piece, through the "middle of tho notes and an ink scrawl over the signatures of the bank officials who had endorsed them. In order to restore the notes to their genuine appearance, a number of one-pound notes were cut up in. order to get the impress of the numeral " 1 " that appears on the back of onepound notes, and gumming this on tho back of the " doctored " notes so as to cover the central device, and tracing over the face with indian ink and colours a facsimile of the portion punched out. The work was most skilfully carried out, and it would be a difficult matter for anyone not forewarned to detect the imposture from a cursory inspection of* the notes. The erased names of the endorsers have also been cleverly retouched out. It has been • stated.that the denominations of notes put in circulation in Christchurch are £l, £o and £lO, but this is incorrect, as only one-pound notes have so far been traced, and it is also incorrectly stated that the notes have made their . appearance in various parts of New. Zealand, as it is now known that the man who is said to be responsible for their circulation only arrived iu New Zealand from Australia oh Wednesday, April 14, and came to Christchurch. the next day. The local detective force, as soon as they were apprised of the spurious notes being in circulation, set to,.work to find the man responsible for the forgery and utteriug. It is now believed that the man who is "wanted" for the robbery from the parcels office at Wellington and the man who has been circulating the notes in Christchurch are identical, and he is described as being a tall, thin man, with a sallow, clean-shaven face, and rather, commanding appearance. The detec- - tives on Wednesday obtained clues, and the suspected man was traced to a well-known private hotel in the city. Detective Ward went to the premises about nine o'clock on Wednesday morning, but the man had apparently seen the detective coming or been forewarned, and managed to get off the premises unobserved. Tho suspected man, however, had left in a great hurry, not even waiting to get >,his hat, and on the roonv he occupied being searched about 120 one-pound notes ready' for circulation were found, together with a quantity of material that had been used in the process of "faking" the notes. It is now known that shortly after the suspected person left the hotel he called at a certain hatter's shop in the centre of the town and purchased a hat. Since tho facts surrounding the circulation of spurious notes have been published the culprit responsible for them has taken special precautions to disguise himself'and elude the police, but the detective force has informed tho police in other districts, and a sharp look-out will be kept on all trains and steamers, so that tlnsclever criminal should shortly bo brought to justice. It is tolerably certain also that the circulation of the notes has been ~ stopped. j .. ~.