THE SAFE DEPOSIT.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 24, Issue 18, 7 March 1913, Page 2

THE SAFE DEPOSIT.

The safq deposit has long since established itself as a necessary institution. There are thirteen in London and six in the provinces. From an article on the subject 'in “T.P.’s Magazine” by Mr. Harold Shepstone we gather that ihe largest safe deposit is that at Chancery Lane, London. It ib a veritable nest of strong rooms and safes, totalling 40,000 receptacles in all.

It is used a great deal by the diamond merchants in the district. It is a common thing for a broker to rush down the broad white steps leading to the vaults just before closing time with £20,000 worth of diamonds in his pockets.

In one of the strong rooms at this safe deposit there is a collection of books, every one of which is said to be worth £2,000, and in another tapestries valued at over £70,000. It was at this deposit that timelocks were first used in England. Now all the modern safe deposits possess them. AN AMERICAN IDEA. The safe deposit is, it seems, purely an American idea. It arose as the result of the American Civil War. At that period American bank robberies were so frequent that the banks refused to talse care of their customers’ valuables. Ode of these institutions referred its clients to the porter as willing to accept the risk. For a small sum he took charge of the boxes and safes and made a fortune by doing so. Thus suggested to the ever-alert Yankee brain the safe deposit. After they had had a successful run of some twenty-five years in the United -States, the idea was brought to London. At first, however, the British public did not altogether take to the idea of storing their valuables in public vaults, but now they have realised the wonderful security agaipst loss and theft which these institutions ofier. “Westminster Gazette.”