TREASURE THROWN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20012, 1 December 1927, Page 11

TREASURE THROWN

FINDS IN THE RUBBISH TIP OVER-CARE IN CONCEALMENT. The catalogue of the contents of the domestic dust-bin is a long one if it has to be given in any detail, for the receptacle is one for a great assortment of material, much of it voluntarily discarded; some of it only accidentally so. A little time ago a four days’ search was made at a refuse tip in Bradford for notes to the value of £3OO. The story of how they came to be there is as follows:—The owner was going away on holiday and found himself unable to bank the money. He therefore hid it between some rolls of wallpaper in a cupboard. During his absence the charwoman had been busy and had cleaned out the cupboard, the paper in which she put in the bin. Imagine the merchant’s dismay on finding the cupboard empty on his return! He communicated with the cleansing department immediately, and learned where the rubbish had probably been disposed of. A search was made at the tip. Three days’ digging had been fruitless, and it was thought useless to continue. However, a decision was arrived at to persevere, and ou the afternoon of the fourth day the missing parcel was recovered. Just in Time. There was a somewhat similar occurrence in a large Scottish town. In this case the tradesman had been in the habit of hiding his drawings among the retuse in his bin. One morning the bin was put out and had been emptied before his arrival. Forty-three pounds had been concealed among its contents. Again the owner lost no time in getting into touch with the cleansing department, with equally happy results, for his money was just recovered in time to prevent it being fed into the destructor. Yet another instance is that where a bundle of notes to the value of £36 was left lying on a shop counter. They were mistaken for dirty paper, gathered together with other rubbish, and thrown into the shop bin. Again the hue and cry was raised after the call of the “scaffie.” Another search at the tip was made, and, as luck would again have it, the missing treasure was found. . Holidaymakers’ Dodges. ( Sometimes before leaving for holii days money and valuables are hidden in the queerest of places. This someI times defeats its purpose, for in seek- | ing to outwit the burglar the concealment is carried out in such a way as to result in loss in another way. One case of this may be given." Before going off for a stay at the seaside a careful housewife hid some sovereigns and rings in the ashpan. The maid came home to clean up before the family returned. Of course, without any examination, the contents of the ashpan were thrown into the bin. Naturally when the mistress appeared one of her first concerns was to see if the precious things in the “hidie hole” were still safe. Consternation! The ashpan was empty and burnished. Mary Jane was brought in. Yes, she had thrown the ashes into the ash-bucket and the dustmen had emptied it. To geo on the track of the dustmen was the next concern. No trace of the missing valuables could be found. Then seme one had a brain-wave—they might be in the bin. There they were sure enough sticking in the joint of the bottom. Lost Radium. Even things more precious than money find admission to the refuse. This was the experience of Charing Cross Hospital, where two tubes of r.dium were missed of a value of £l5OO. The loss was discovered after the operating theatre had been cleaned out, following an operation. A thor ough, but unsuccessful search was made, all in vain, and it was concluded that the tubes had been swept away with the rubbish. The hospital refuse was burned in an incinerator the clinker from which was carted to a tip at Harrow. A search was, therefore, made in the dust-bin, then in the incinerator, and finally at the tip. Aided by a device called a radium detector, which registers the presence of the faintest trace of radium by the glow of a light from a sensitive metal it contains, the search party tried the clinkers. The detector began to glow. The clinkers were then carefully collected and treated to yield

up their precious contents, which were almost wholly recovered. Precious Documents. How many precious documents have been destroyed as rubbish is difficult to compute. The seventh volume of the report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission records how the Town Clerk of Beccles came into possession of valuable documents of the 17th and 18th century. He had observed a boy wheeling a barrow bearing well-filled sacks, from one of which protruded a piece of vellum with a seal attached. The lad was jjaking the stuff to be destroyed as rubbish. Since the war the discovery of explosives in dust-bins among gown’s refuse has been quite common. Occasionally the finds are of a gruesome nature. Recently a workman sorting rubbish deposited at a Liverpool Corporation refuse tip found the foot of a young woman. He was raking over a bundle of old papers when rthe discovery was made. Investigation was at once set agoing, but the result is not yet known. Town’s refuse, then, besides sometimes containing things of value, and always being an indicator of the householder’s wastefulness and carelessness, may also disclose evidence of tragedy, but that is another and longer story.