Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-08-22
A PEEP INTO THE BANK OF ENC
LAND.

The Bank of England must be
seen on the inside as we'll as the
out, and to get into the interior of
this remarkable building, to OBJ
serve the operations of the institu
ton that exerts more moral and
political power than any sovereign
in Europe, yon must have an order
from the Governor Of the Bank
The building occupies an irregular
area of eight acres OF ground An
edifice of no architectural beauty,
with not one window toward the
street, being lighted altogether
from the roof of the enclosed areas
| was led, on presenting my card
of admission, into private room,
where, after q delay of few min
utes, messenger came and con-
Quoted me through tho mighty
and mysterious building Down
we went into room where the
notes of the Bank received the day
before were now examined, COM
pared with the entries in the books
and stored away. The Bank of
England never issues the same
note the second time. 1t receives,
in the ordinary course of business,
about 100000, or $4,000, 900 daily
in notes. These are put up into
parcels according to their denomi-
nations, boxed up with the date OF
their reception, and are kept ten
years at the expiration Of which
period they are taken out and
ground up in the mill, which /
saw running, and made again into
paper If, in the course OF those
ten years, any dispute in business
or law suit should arise concerning
the payment of any note, the
Bank can produce the identical
bill.
To meet the demand for notes SO
constantly used up, the Bank has
its own papermakers,its own prin-
tiers, its own engravefs, all at work
under the same roof, and it even
makes the machinery by which
the most of its work is done. A
complicated but beautiful opera
ton is a register, extending from
the printing Office to the banking
Offices, which marks every sheet
of paper that is struck off from the
press SO that the printers cannot
manufacture single sheet of
blank notes that is not recorded in
the bank.
On the same principle of exact
ness, a shaft is made to pass from
one apartment to the other, con-
Meeting clock in sixteen business
wings of the establishment, and
regulating them with such preci-
sion, that the whole of them are
always pointing to the same Sec
ond time. In another room was a
machine exceedingly simple, for
detecting light gold coins A row
of them dropped one by one upon
a spring scale. If the Iiece of gold
was the standard weight. the scale
rose to a certain height, and the
coin slid off upon the side of the
box; if less than the standard, it
rose a little higher, and the coin
slid off upon the other side. ask
ed the weigher what was the aver
age number of light coins that
came into his hands, and, strange
ly, enough, he said it was a ques-
ton he was not allowed to answer.
The next room / entered was
that in which the notes are depos-
tied which are ready for ISSUE
We have thirty-two millions of
pounds sterling in this room," the
officer remarked to me twill you
take little of it?" / told him it
would be vastly agreeable, and he
handed me million sterling five
millions of dollars), which l re-
ceived with many thanks for his
liberality, but he insisted on my
depositing it with him again, as it
would be hardly safe to carry so
much money in the street. l very
much fear that / shall never see
that money again. In the vault
beneath the door was director and
cashier counting the bags of gold,
which men were pitching down to
them, each bag containing thou
sand pounds sterling, just from the
mint. This world of money seem
ell to realize the fables of Eastern
wealth, and gave me new and
strong impressions of the magni-
tude of the business done ere,and
the extent of the relations Of this
one institution to the commerce of
the world.