The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-08-01
A Look into the Bank OF England.

Il
Special arrangements were made at
the Bank of England in anticipation of
a visit from the Shah, but he was too
tired out on the appointed day to go
there. Had he gone, says the London
NeOs, he would have found all the Bank
officials ut their daily duties-every man
sitting, so to speak, at the receipt of
custom and the iron rule by which
doors are kept day and night well barred
would have been in force. At ring of
the bell, however, the doors of the bank
note printing offices would have flown
open, and six machines would have been
seen in full work. Each machine, with
a good deal OF necessary clatter, turns
out $500 notes an hour q clever self
registering apparatus prevents any
chance of stray note falling, let us say,
through the machinery, or blowing acct
dentally up a chimney. English notes
were, as we passed through half an hour
before the Shah's expected visit, being
thrown off as if they were mere playbills,
and also number of India currency or
rupee notes. In another chamber there
were pile upon pile of crisp, delicious
bank notes of all varieties to be seen,
and even handled, but not carried away.
Ten machines were in operation, and a
sudden entrance into the cashiers room
adjoining resembled, to the ear, the diff
ference between smithy and a cloister.
The polite, well-dressed gentlemen who
occupied the room were forming bundles
of 500 notes each, and neatly tying them
up with green ribbon, each bundle
worth 60, 800. Through their hands
there passes an average of $4,000 notes
a day-fifties, twenties, tens and tives-
with the exception of the last day of the
week, when the early closing movement
reduces the number to 10000
Returning down the stairs, the Shah,
and the few persons who were to have
accompanied him, would have next Wis
tied the gold-weigh room, all musical
with the chink, chink, of never-ending
sovereigns.
The works of the machines by which
the sovereigns are weighed, twelve in
number, are delicate as a lady's watch !;
should coin be the Tooth part of grain
below the standard, the machine tips it
over into receptacle different from that
in which the true gold is shot. Twenty
eight sovereigns a minute are disposed
of by each machine, or 100000 day.
1t seemed-so nicely adjusted was this
wonderful machine, as if it paused a
moment to think, and trembled as it re-
jected the unworthy coin from its hon
ester fellows. This mass of treasure,
called indifferently "dross' or "hlthy
lucre," was to be seen by scuttlesful,
shoveled about as the farmers man
shovels horse-beans. A rich, glittering,
tempting heap of 70, 900 sovereigns lay on
the carefully-caged table, and We were,
of course, not surprised to be informed
that within our reach there were nearly
400, 600 of these bits of shining gold, SO
hard to earn, so easy to spend. a bushel
or so of half sovereigns were, after what
had gone before, quite beneath notice,
but they looked pretty, and winked APP
pealingly, as we gave them casual
glance. Sometimes as many as 10000
light coins were detected in day. The
pay-hall is public room, but leading
out of it is a chamber particularly pri
vate, and bearing the name of the Treas
urv. 1t is dark and cool-too rich, in
fact, to have its repose rutfied by COM
mon storms or vulgar passions. There
are in it 135 massive safes, crammed
with wealth the Treasury is, in fact, a
gigantic reservoir, at present contain
ing thirty-fve millions of money. One
safe holds "garbled sixpences ;" an
other is full of threepenny bits; one is
sacred to old sovereigns its neighbor
takes care of the new. The superinten-
dent of this department showed us two
parcels of notes which child might toss
into the air they represented FL, 000,-
900 in thousand pound notes. The
doors of another safe were opened, and
we stood silent before seventy bags of
FL 900 each, each weighing 81 lbs. 1t
was mercifully arranged that after this
the Shah should be taken into the open
air, the route next lying through the
gardens, once city churchyard, into
the dividend and Government debt
offices, and across the bullion yard to
the bullion room. Around the sides of
this prison-like vault stood trucks laden
with gold bars worth f1 500 each, one
of which could not be purchased for
a farthing less than 100000. Besides
these there were trihing bags of gold
coin running up the total amount to
e3, 900, 900, to say nothing of row of
bags put like naughty children into a
corner, because they held 1000 of gold
SOyorelQnS