LOST—ONE HUNDRED POUNDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7865, 29 July 1911, Page 18

LOST—ONE HUNDRED POUNDS

Years ago .when tho electric telegraph was a now idea and a mystery to tho masses, there came trouble one Saturday night in tho Bant of England. Tho business of the day had closed, and the balance was not right. There was a deficit of just £IOO. It-was not the money, but the error, that must be found. For the officials and clerks there could be no sleep until the mystery had been cleared up. All that night, and all Sunday, a force of men were busy. The money was surely gone from tho vaults, but no one could discover whence. On the following morning a clerk said that the mistake might have occurred in packing, for the West Indies, some bores of specie that had been sent to Southampton for shipment. His chief acted on the thought. Hero was an opportunity to test the powers of the telegraph —lightning against steam, and steam with forty-eight hours the start. Very soon the telegraph asked a man in Southampton, “Has the ship Mercator sailed?" The answer came back, “Just weighing anchor." “Stop her in the Queen's name," flashed back the telegraph. “She is stopped," was returned. “Have on deck certain boxes (marks given), weigh them carefully, and let me know the result," telegraphed the chief. This order was obeyed, and one box was found to bo somewhere about one pound and 10 ounces heavier than its mates—just the weight of the missing sovereigns. “All right. Let the ship go!" was the next order. The West India house was debited with tho .£IOO, and the Bank of England was at peace again.—" Harper’s Weekly."

Those who believe in tho probability or even tho'.possibility of invasion should surely bo preaching the necessity of repopulating the rural districts with a hardy race of genuine farmers. A dozen gamekeepers and servants make a poor recruiting ground for the Army in comparison with the 130 farmers and labourers who might make their living from too samo area- —“Economist." Hundreds of silver coins about tho size of sixpences, a number of them hearing the effigy of Richard 11., have been unearthed at Palmer’s Green. The Japanese Government spent in 1910 .£7,590,362 on naval expenditure, £2,692.260 of which was devoted to new construction and armaments. Prom the Imperial dockyard at Euro the 20,800 tons Dreadnought Setteu was launched quite recently. It is slated that this vessel has a displacement of over 25,000 tons and is armed with twelve 13.5-inch guns.