SPURIOUS COINS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 938, 7 December 1933, Page 11

SPURIOUS COINS.

“ Made in New Zealand Mint.” REMARKABLE “NEWS" STORY. It is said that people have to go away from home to learn news about themselves, and it is certain that any New Zealanders in the country who could read the Austrian language must have been astounded when an article appeared in the “ Neues Wiener Extrablatt ”, a Vienna newspaper, in January last from its New York correspondent, describing a coining plant which had been discovered in the “ New Zealand Government Mint”, and telling, with a wealth of detail, a story that has now found its way back to New Zealand. “ The epidemic of crime, particularly of large-scale fraud and of coining, that has been raging in the civilised world for some years past, has now reached out-of-the-way parts,” states this remarkable article. “ New Zealand, that tranquil British Dominion, whose population has always been conspicuous for ingenuousness of mind, has also been visited by the epidemic. “ Large Mint at Wellington.” “At Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is situated a large Government Mint, where the specie for the whole country is coined. Specie in New Zealand, as opposed to paper money, is used to an exceptional extent, so that the mint is hard worked. “ About a war ago, for the first time for many years, spurious coins w T ere found in circulation, at Dunedin. Energetic police inquiries revealed the existence of masses of such coins, whole rolls of them being discovered at the banks. Excitement ran high, and specie was commonly refused in payment. “ The Government offered large rewards for information, without result. Numerous arrests were made, with no other effect than to cause subsequent embarrassment to the authorities. Even a force of specialists sent for from Scotland Yard proved ineffective. The stream of spurious coins still flowed from its mysterious source. Impudent Young Policeman. “ Finally, a young policeman propounded the theory that the source must be in the Mint itself. Indignant protests by the governors of the Mint led to his suspension. A few weeks later his theory was proved to be the right one. “ The sensational discovery was made accidentally. One night in a public house a young fellow ran up a big score and paid in brand-new coins. The landlord felt suspicious, and rang up late at night for a detective, who ascertained that the money was spurious coin that had not yet been in circulation. “ The young man. when arrested, declared that he had drawn the money from the National Bank. This proved to be untrue; he was identified as an employee of the Mint. A surprise visit of a large police force to the Mint discovered the coining plant. The coiners, who . were all operatives or clerks of the State institution, had been using the dies to make coins out of metal of inferior quality , without arousing the suspicions of the management. Other officials, including one of the control officials, had organised the disposal of the spurious coins. “ The investigation is proving exceptionally difficult. It appears that among the highest officials of the Mint some must at any rate have been accessories to the crime. There is no other way of accounting for the fact that the spurious coins were officially transmitted to the National Bank. Numerous arrests have been made.”