FRENCH RENTE FORGERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

FRENCH RENTE FORGERY.

BOLD SCHEME FOILED. Paws,"- May B.—The French authorities have made a successful stroke in detecting the bold scheme for flooding the markets with false coupons of French Rentes, ;n connection with which two arrests have been made in England, and a third m Germany. Just a month ago a Mannheim bank suspected some coupons which it had received in deposit for future payment, and sent them to Paris to be examined by the Ministry for Finance, which immediately detected the forgery. An inquiry was at once institut- " by the French authorities, who asked the German police to search for the persons who were responsible for the fraud. 'The bank had in its possession sufficient indications to lead to the discovery of the alleged culprit, who was residing in Wiesbaden, and who was arrested. He was to pasg the coupons in Germany, and papers were found in his possession which showed that the forgery had been committed in Loudon. The inquiry was therefore pushed actively on the other side of the Channel, and the arrest of two more men was asked for by the French authorities. One of these men, it is alleged, manufactured the coupons in London, and a third accomplice was to circulate them in England. It appears, also, according to the information possessed by the French magistrate charged with the investigation, that the man who forged the coupons in London had likewise manufactured false certificates of French Rentes, which the trio proposed to dispose of in England and Germany. Luckily, thanks to the precautions taken by the bank in Mannheim, the whole scheme has been nipped in the bud. The arrest of the forgers w£' _ V V'--Yty'prevent i Jae wholesale fraud, which, it is alleged, had been contemplated. The man duller, arrested in Germany, is a Prussian, audits will, therefore, most like'y be tried in his own country, whereas the rrench authorities have, it is said, applied for, and bono to obtain, the extradition of the two men arrestedSn London. It is quite possible that many of the false coupons have been presented to banks in both countries, but as they are not due till July next it is not yet known to what extent the attempt to swindle the bank's may have succeeded. At any rate, no attempt seems to have been made to pass the coupons in Franco, where they would have been readily detected, despite their clever imitation. FKISONKR, AT UOW-STBEKX. At Bow-street police court, before Mr. Curtis Bennett, Harry Hill, a French subject, described as of Albert i'iace, Gravesend, was charged, on an extradition warrant, with forgery and uttering what was forged in France. Prisoner is alleged to have been concerned in extensive forgeries of coupons of the French Rente, with a man named Charles Filmer, who has been under remand at this court for some five or six weeks, and with another man. named Mul- - who was recently arrested at Wiesbaden. Ho is said to have been living at Gravescnd for about five weeks, and at his lodgings there the police took possession of a complete printing outfit. Detective-Inspector Mclntyre, of Scotland Yard, said that he found Hill detained, by the Gravescnd police. When the warrant was read to him he made no reply. The Chief Constable of Gravesend handed to witness a quantity of property taken possession of at the rooms of accused. In a small kit-bag witness found five plain copper plates, and whilst he was examining them the prisoner said, "I know what you want. It is a waste- of time looking at those. You will find all you want in this box." He indicated a cigar-box, which witness opened, and found to contain eight | wooden blocks for printing coupons, three small packets of type, seven prepared zinc j printing plates for printing the backs of coupons, and also a zince plate for producing the water-mark. Pointing to anotlm- cigarbox, the prisoner said, "Those are the engraving tools. I think that is all you want." Witness also found some ounoles of forged coupons of three per cent. French bonds. There were 520, of the face value of 600f. each, and 201 for 300f. each. The property further included a small printing press and a large quantity of tools. In an envelope witness found a genuine three per cent, bond of the French Republic, with 10 coupons attached,,and a receipt for the purchase of the same, and also another similar bond, partly burnt. The prisoner remarked. " Take arpat care of those. They : are genuine.!'* Witness also produced a , number of visiting-cards bearing the names ! of Mouchnino, M. Howard, and H. Harold.

The accused, who speaks English fluently, said be bad no questions to ask, but he wished -his wife (who was in court) to have certain property which belonged to her, and had nothing to do with the charge. Inspector Melntyre said the prisoner was referring to throe small loose diamonds, some pearls, and other things, but the police objected to giving them up at present. The application was accordingly refused, and the prisoner was remanded.