READY FOR WAR.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIX, Issue 3997, 22 November 1918, Page 4

READY FOR WAR.

In th© Julius Tower of Spaodau, n Prussian fortress eight miles from Berlin, a vast quantity of specie and £6,000,000 in gold are stored and held ia reserve, ready for immediate uaa should Germany go to war.

Needless to say, elaborate precautions are taken to guard this mass' of treasures. The gold coins are stored in chests, piled one upon another, in rooms, to which access- </flfy is pqssibl* by passing through three "doors, each fitted with several locks.

Each of these doors weighs a ton, and is made of steel, with an oak core ; whilst each of the keys is held by a different Government official, so that if is. impossible for any one of these officials lo gain admission to the treasure chamber unaccompanied.

Is the money ever counted? No, never. The task, of ocmrse, "-would be almost impossible; but periodical!? each chest is weighed—and the correJfc weight, it may be said, is known to tflie smallest fraction of an ounce; whilst occasionally the seals are brokenj the chests opened, and a careful inspection made, by certain high' officials to make sure that the contents iave not been tampered with in any