FORGED BANK NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 18760, 26 December 1930, Page 10

FORGED BANK NOTES.

CIRCULATING IN AUCKLAND. By Telegraph—Press \s?oclatlor> AUCKLAND. December 25. At the busiest time in the shopping period on Wednesday afternoon, a number of forged £1 bank of Austra- j Jasia notes were found to be in circu- , lation in Auckland, a number being ' presented in payment for small | articles at two large stores. It appears that a large number of j counterfeit notes, which are in two i series, had been printed, and one u* | more men had commenced to put i them into circulation about bank closing time, at 3 p.m. during the busy j Christmas shopping rush. Although reproduction had been ■ very skilfully carried out. and the | ordinary person would readily pass the notes, several fell into the possession of the bank just before 3 o’clock, and other shopkeepers and the police were informed. There is very little to distinguish thp foreed notes from the genuine on first sight, but clospr examination reveals a number of differences. The forged notes are about eighth of an inch shorter, and are very slightly narrower, the difference n, size lying in the margin and not in the printing. The texture can be distinguished from the genuine, as the paper is thinner. On the genuine notes, the numbers are black and well spaced, those on the forged being larger, not dark and closer spaced. The signature on the forged notes is ‘J. J. Gellert,” and the date January 1, 1929, resembling the signature and date on one of the current issues of notes, of which there are many ;u present in circulation. On the forged notes the initials are not readily legible, while those on the genuine notes are fairly clear. On the original notes a purple strip in the background of green “one” bears the words “I promise to pay bearer on demand one pound at Wellington.” On the counterfeit notes these words are not legible with the exception of words "one pound," which are in white block letters. The tops of the letters "I” and “p” in “I promise” are also legible against the white field of the body of the note. The counter signatures on the forged notes are not clear, and consist mainly of a series of up and down strokes.

The numbers of the forged notes so far to hand are 78,856, 783,867, 783,868, 783,869, 884,845.

Apparently the notes have been printed in two different series. It is thought that there may be some hundreds of notes in each series. The first notes to be detected were six which were cashed at a large Queen Street Department store betweeen 2 and 3 p.m. They were forwarded to the bank with the takings up to that time, and as soon as they were presented were declared to be forgeries. The bank then notified the police and other shopkeepers in Queen Street.

About 3 o’clock an employee in another large shop a short distance up Queen Street was tendered a forged note, which she refused to accept. It was believed that a large number of forged notes are already in circulation, and in an effort to prevent any more being circulated, and to warn the public, the police broadcast a statement from IYA, on Wednesday evening. Other steps are being taken to prevent more of the notes being passed.