JEWELS AND DOCUMENTS, FALSE TEETH, SHOES, IN SAFE DEPOSITS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6887, 17 April 1929, Page 3

JEWELS AND DOCUMENTS, FALSE TEETH, SHOES, IN SAFE DEPOSITS

MAN YSTRANGE THINGS. Tho recent opening of the safe deposits in the new Government Savings bank in Sydney recalls that many strange things have been found in safe deposits when, years after the death or disappearance of a ronter, boxes have been opened, states the “Sydney Sun.” It is recorded that one box contained a set of false teeth. What could have induced tho owner to keep them in a strong room? No one can over hope to learn. In another case, after nothing had been heard of a man for years, the box which he had rentod for six months was opened. It it was a map of tho Pacific Occar. with a little speck of an uninhabited island marked with a cross in red ink. What might ‘that mean? Buried treasure? Who can tell? In tho United States, where failure to pay the rent often leads to the tho officials opening it and selling the contents, it has been found that articles of no intrinsic value whatever are sometimes stored for safe keeping. Often there is clearly a tragedy behind the contents of a box —a pair of baby.’s shoes, a photograph, a lock of hair, a bundle of letters, a wedding ring a medal or certificate of merit.

The safe deposit in the basement of the Government Savings bank is nowbeing used by business and private people for the storage of deeds, documents wills, securities, jewels. Goodness knows what else may be tucked away in its keeping, for tho bank officials never see the inside of a box, although there is provision in the Act for a box to be cut open in the. event of a renter disappearing and not being heard of for a long time. Many of the Sydney bank’s clients have a box largely for safekeeping their jewellery, others are less concerned about possible theft from their homes than about the chances of fire. From all these perils the Government Savings bank deposit may be considered immune. It is closed by a door of steel over 2ft. thick and weighing 30 tons. The door is circular and fits into the wall like a great plug. Twentyfour heavy bolts hold it in position, and these are controlled by four time locks and a series of combinations which give a burglar less than one chanco in four million of guessing the right numbers. The slightest sound in tho vault is carried by electric microphones to watchmen outside. But in business hours the big door is rolled back and although various precautions arc taken, these do not obtrude on the clients of the safe deposit.