STRONG ROOMS AND SAFE DEPOSITS.

Northland Age, Volume V, Issue 16, 7 December 1908, Page 2

STRONG ROOMS AND SAFE DEPOSITS.

Even those fortunate people who find it necessary to store their valuables at their bankers have probably little idea of the elaborate precautions which are essential nowadays to secure them against the skill of the scientific burglar. In the February "Strand" Mr. Harold jJ. Shepstone tells the fascinating story of the strong-room. There is a close analogy between the struggle of the locksmith against the burglar and the contest between ar- • mour-plate and big guns. Time after time has the locksmith exhausted his (ingenuity in devising api parently impenetrable chambers, and again and again have the marvellous ‘skill and patience of the burglar | foiled his 'efforts. j A hundred years ago the Bank of England kept its cash and securities in a great oak box clamped with iron. From this the strong- ! room of to-day, constructed of ar-mour-plate, ’has been gradually evolved s< "If a mob overcame the guards and ‘watch clerks’ at the Bank of England they could not possibly penetrate into the vaults, for their passage would be blocked by large reservoirs of water. Tho strongroom here is one of the largest in the world. The foundation 66ft. below street level, is a bed of con'crete 20ft. thick. Above this concrete is a lake 7ft. deep, and above that thick plates of iron specially manufactured to resist both skill and force. Anyone attempting an entrance from above would find a similar bed of concrete, a similar lake, and similar plates of iron. The walls are impenetrable, while the doors are Ift. thick, weigh four tons each, and are made absolutely undrillable." Many years ago, when the strongroom was less rigorously protected, the directors were startled one morning by a letter from a man who said he had been in the vault. Some days later a heavy chest, which had been abstracted from the " treasury," was returned to the Bank by th£ writer of the letter, who had gained entrance from the sewers. He was rewarded and given a pension for life. In the safe-deposit, which has become a necessary adjunct of modern life, are to be found the most developments in strong-room construction. One of the largest in London, which cost £250,000, , consists of 32 great vaults, whoso doors have no locks. anjJ are worked by hydraulic power. When the door& are closed the mechanism is disconnected, and anyone attempting to connect it would release 50,000 gallons of water and flood the place from floor to ceiling, although the strong rooms would remain absolutely dry. Many and varied are the valuables stored in these treasure-houses. At another London deposit the writer was shown a room which contained £30,000,000 worth of securities. The next contained a collection of rare books worth £2,000 each, another held a collection of old china. In a fourth paintings worth £IOO,OOO, and a fifth contained tapestries which could not be duplicated for £50,000.—"Daily Telegraph."