PRECAUTION AGAINST FORGERY.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 22 May 1912, Page 3

PRECAUTION AGAINST FORGERY.

An elaborate, but at the same time very ingenious, method has been adopted by some of the world's richest men, in order to prevent their cheque signatures against fraud. Not only is a different kind of signature used for every day in the week, but the signatures vary according ftp. the amount of the cheque. Suppose, for instance, the millionaire's name was John Peter Smith. On Monday he will sign cheques for £10 or under "J. P. Smith"; from £10 to £50, "J. Peter Smith"; for over £100, "John Peter Smith"; for over ;£iooo, "John Smith"," and so on. On Tuesday there is a re-shuffling of the signatures; cheques will be signed "J. Peter Smith"; £10 to ;£sO> "John Peter Smith" ; over £"ioo, "John P. Smith"; over £1000, "P. Smith"; and soon.

Thus the forger who would alter a cheque for into one for has many difficulties to face. He may succeed in adding the extra "o"; he may succeed in altering the word "hundred" to "thousand" —which is not so hard as it looks: But (says the. "Daily Express") when he presents the cheque, the cashier, from the date and the amount, sees that it ought, say, to bear the signature "Tohn P. Smith," when actually the name reads "John Smith." ' Thus the fraud is discovered. It is not every bank, of course, that would undertake the working of a complicated cipher like this, but a millionaire's account is (usually worth taking a eood deal of trouble over.

Certain firms in London devote the whole of their attention to the manafacture and printing of cheques, circular notes, letters of credit, and other securities for bankers. One of these firms, after considerable pressure from a certain millionaire, has devised a form of cheque which is water-marked like a Bank of England note, and which is declared to be absolutely safe.

Not only is the minimum amount water-marked in the body of the blank cheque—"under or "under .£IOO" —but the place wherethe drawee usually signs his name is prepared by a secret process, so that it can be written on only by a special kind of ink, the manufacture of which, again, is a secret.

This species of cheque is used by a select body of men dealing habitually with big sums of money, and up to the present has-been found to afford almost absolute security.