THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XLII, Issue 3433, 30 June 1894, Page 11

THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

Somewhat move than 200 years ago the | royal assent was given to the bill author. [ ising t!i3 foundation of the Bank of Kng • land, the most powerful financial iustitu- '' tiou in the world. The bill was signed On April 25, 11304, a period prolific in ; speculative schemes', William Paterson, the originator of the scheme, was a native of Scotland, who had lived in the West Indies, though what his business in those islands was seems to havo been a mystery. His friends said ho had been a missionary; his enemies, that he had been a buccaneer. At this time it was absolutely necessary to find some new mode of defraying the expenses of the war, and so Paterson's scheme found favour. Of course the goldsmiths and pawnbrokers of the time howled with rage, and some Tories pointed out that it would ruin the monarchy. Banks and kings, they said, had never existed together. There were nourishing banks at Venice, Genoa, Amsterdam, and Hamburg; but who had ever heard of a Bank of France or a Bank of Soain ? These statements create amuse, menfc in these days, for it is easy to be wise after the event; but two hundred ytars ago, .while Parliament was embarking upon an uncertain scheme, they had great weight in the country. Little did even the most sanguine of the promoters dream that they were founding an institut;oa dutined to become the financial centre of the world. To give some idea, though but a very inadequate one, of the amount of business transacted by the Bank of England, take for instance the note circulation. The number of notes coming into the Bank every day is about 50,000", and 350,000 are destroyed every week, or something like 18,000,000 every year. The stock of paid notes for five years is about 77,745,000 in number, and they fill 13,400 b«xes, which if placed side by side would reach two and one-thud miles. If the notes were placed in a pile they would reach to a height of five and two-third miles; or, if joined end to end, would form a ribbon 12,455 miles long. With the Bank of England the destruction of its notes takes place about once a week, and at 7 p.m. It used to be done in the daytime, but made such a smell that the neighbouring stockbrokers petitioned the Governors to do it in the evening. The liotes are previously cancelled by punching a hole through the amount (in figures) and tearing off the signature of the chief cashier. The notes are burned in a close furnace, and the only agency employed is shavings and bundles «f wood. They used to be burned in a cags, the result of which was tint once a week the City was darkened with burned fragments of notes. For future purposes of reference, the notes are left for five years before being burned. Everything is unique about this vast monetary institution, and quite as unique as its notes and its position in the world are the locks on its treasury door?, which are called to guard the enormous wealth in its possession, The making of each of these marvels' of mechanism occupies three men for six weeks, and costs £75. » '

Speaking on the locks and keys, it is interesting to he told that the little fluted pieces of steel iu the head of the key (technically called "steps") are nine in number, and are capable of 362,880 different combinations. If a banker whose safe was fitted with this lock should chance to lose his key, or if he had reason to suppose that a wax impression of it had been taken, all that would be necessary in order to baffle burglarious designs would be to unlock the safe with the duplicate key, unscrew the head, and change the position of the steps, and then re-lock the safe or strong-room. The mechanism of the lock would instantly adapt itself to the changed combination, pd could never bo unlocked by the former key. This, however, is not an unmixed blessing. One afternoon a certain city merchant was amusing hiu> self by unscrewing the steps of both his keys when it suddenly occurred to him that he had forgotten the combination. As the keys in question were capable of thousands of combinations, there was nothing for it but to seek to work on a system of numbared tables, and tick off each combination as it was tried.

" But that may take months," objected the merchant ruefully. Well, as the only othei alternative was to build a furnace round the door of the safe, it was decided to try the combinations first, The makers of the safe sent two men and an apprentice with the printed tables-great sheets of paper several yards long—and after nine days' tedious labour, during which about 13,000 different combinations were arranged and tried, the right one was hit upon by accident, and the door opened.

The treasury doors of the Bank of England measure seven feet by three, and weigh about two and a half tons. Besides being fitted with the above-mentioned changeable loch they have violent locks five feet long, mh of which weighs 2001b ; and gunpowderproof locks, having blow-holes on every side, even through the massive bolt. These blowholes allow the gunpowder pumped in to escape, and reduce the force of a possible plosion to a mere harmless puff. It is worthy of note that there are more than 10,000 locks fitted iu the Bank of England. Then comes the Savoy Hotel with 1300 controlled by ono master key. The manager of each of the six floors at the Savoy, however, has a master key which controls the lock of every room under bis supervision. Her Majesty's safe at Windsor Castle, in which the gold plate is kept, weighs eight tons, and is protected by a violence lock 18 inches long, a changeable lock, and a gunpowder lock, all of which can be mechanically covered by an undrillable steel plate, which renders it impossible to insert even a hairpin into any of the keyholes. The last new suite of locks that was made for the Tower of London consisted of twelve

oi the latest pattern, all save one of which were controlled by a golden master key. Only a few days before the latter was presented to the Constable (Lord Napier of Magdala), that nobleman died, and the coveted key subsequently passe.l into the hands of the present Constable of the Tower, General Sir Daniel Lysons.