SAFE DEPOSIT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20643, 15 February 1929, Page 18

SAFE DEPOSIT.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST BURGLARS, NEW SYDNEY SAVINGS BANK. Although in the hypocritical sense, the new safe ‘deposit, of the Government Savings Bank, in Martin place, Sydney, is hot invulnerable I—for 1 —for even Gibraltar: is subject to offers a repository jfor. documents, jewels,: d4eds, securities, and the like as, secure as human hands and ingenuity .can contrive (says the Sydney Morning Herald of recent date). According to the commissioners, it is the “last word”.in safety, combining, moreover, an interesting admixture of simplicity of access for clients with security ■ against possible operations by unauthorised persons. Every caller at the safe deposit signs his name cadi time he- .comes. He enters the vault through a large grille, which is opened by an attendant, and locked after him. This admits Only into an ante-chamber. The actual room where the depositors’ boxes are kept is ' next entered though a door which is the crowning glory of the famous' house of Chubb. ..For hundreds of years the firm of Chubb and burglarious professionals have been in competition, and it is satisfactory to know that the present advantage is held by the former. As this door is open during' business hours, it offers no obstacle. Legitimate callers simply, walk in, but before they can open their boxes .the custodian must insert into the locks a “guard” key. The “ guard ” key will not open a box, but,' after it has been turned, the depositor’s key will. Incidentally ,it behoves a depositor to be very careful of bis key. There is a choice of 40,000 offered to the renter ,of a box, but the ‘ bank has no duplicate, and |f a key is lost .the only thing that can be done is for the bank to ask Chubb to chisel a way in. Having opened.his safe box, the depositor may withdraw a container from within and retire to one of 17 little private rooms to examine his papers, or write. The deposit chamber itself is fitted with a number of mirrors, by means of which the attendants can see all that is going on without obtrude ing their presence on the bank’s clients. The door of the safe deposit ‘is' an interesting - study in .. massiveness and strength. " It ‘is seven feet in height, round-shaped like a porthole,, and big enough to admit the fattest man. It kept shut after business hours, and .presents a mighty obstacle to clandestine progress. Weighing 30 tons, and built of steel 2ft 2in in thickness, it fits into position as tightly as a cork in a bottle, and is held by 24 bolts, each as thick as a man’s arm. Conceivably it might be forced open by the use of an amount of explosive which would demolish the whole building, but it could scarcely be chopped through. The problem of opening it in any other way would be complicated by tlie fact that the door is automatically kept closed by four time-locks. Although the safe has been described-as “ not invulnerable,” no one has yet succeeded in finding a wayto release the mechanism until the time . set on the clocks comes round. Even then the locks work on a combinationwhich sets the odds at four million to one against a successful guess. If an enterprising gang decided on tlie oxy-acetylene l . blowpipe method of drilling through the steel, they would find" that as soon as the heat was applied to the door down would fall a .big lock--ing bolt, and a burglar alarm would start to ring madly, both in the safe deposit and at police headquarters. No one goes into the safe deposit after hours, but there are two patrol passages running right round it, along which watchmen ply their way. There is a clock to 'check their movements, differing from an ordinary Bundy by being connected to various listening posts'. Thus at regular intervals a watchman listens-in to microphones inside the safe deposit. If, for example, a burglar happened to get in and made as much noise as the tapping of a pencil, it would be heard by the watchman in the apparatus as loudly as the click of a typewriter. Should the sound be heard, the watchman’s orders are to press a hell which sets alarms clanging through the building and at police headquarters—before he shoots the burglar. One circumstance which imparts added , strength to the whole system is the fact that even if ,anyone were ,given the run of the place, the papers, documents, and valuables are all stored in separate small boxes, which would take quite a few years to open. All is simple and air is secure, but as nothing is absolute’ in this’ world the Savings ’-Bank ■ Commissioners, are content to claim that the safe deposit is as strong as human brains and industry can make it.