GREAT FORGERIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10413, 10 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREAT FORGERIES.

SPURIOUS BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES. SCOTLAND YARD BAFFLED BY A CLEVER GANG. Tue authorities of the Bank of England are engaged in endeavouring to unravel one of the most daring and successful forceries of their note? that has been perpetrated duiing the past quarter of a century. The forgeries are confined to £20 notes, and some £10,000 is, so far as has at preaenb been ascertained, involved. The seriousness of the forgery is aggravated because the notes are printed on paper which, cannot, even by experts, bo differentiated from the genuine Bank of England paper; and the nates can only be pronounced forgeries when individually checked ab tho Bank by Bank officials able to refer to tho Bank's confidential bonks as regards the scoret cipher marks of tho notes How, then, did the discovery come to be made? It was made as the result of pure accident. About five weoks ago tws £20 Bank ol England notes passod through the'hands of ono of the cashiers at the chief branch of the B.ink. The cashier, though never for a moment doubting the genuineness of the notes, happened, to formally check their validity by referring to certain books. He was astounded to find that the secret cipher marks were wanting on both, and though the letterpress, printing, and signatmo of the head cashier were perfect, and, more extraordinary still, the very paper itself was of the same texture and quality as genuine notes in circulation, yet he had no othor course left but to pronounce the two notes forgeries. SCOTLASD YARD AT WORK. Tho governor of the Bank and Messrs. Freehfield, its solicitors, were at once communicated with, Prompt steps wore taken. The Treasury and Scotland Yard wero communicated with, and since then the private staff of detectives of the Bank, the detectives of tho City Police, and those of Scotland Yard have been untiring in their efforts co find the source of the forgeries. No fewer than forty detectives are at present conducting investigations. Some are in Liverpool and the other big cities throughout England, Others aro in Paris and Vienna, and various Continental centres. This much has been ascertained : The notes bearing dates in January of this year are perfect specimens, Mid defy identification except by a Bank of England expert, with his private books of reference. They havo leon printed in Vienna. The gang of forgers ia a lame one. In January the notes worn suddenly put in circulation by being exchanged all in ono day at twenty-five -bureaux de change in Paris, simultaneously, a circumstance indicating that there aro at toast twonty-h've members in the (rang. About 1000 notes aro in circulation, ami of this number a good many hstvo already been presented ao tho Bank of England. The further intention of the gang is, it ie surmised, to paas more of theso forged notes during tho approaching racing season in England. So far the detectives havo been baffled to ascortain more facts about this clovor gang and thoir great coup. What ha.i startled the Bank of England more than anything else is the reproduction of their own paper with the proper watermark. This is a sensation bound to havo far-reachinir effects.