The Mineral argus., 1884-01-17
TIE BANK OF ENGLAND.
A Visit to the OLD Lady OF Thread
needle Street.
From the London Telegraph.

Inc Ola lauy OF 1ureaQuecGle stree
has been putting her house in order.
Whether under the influence of a spirit
of rivalry engendeTed by the new build
ings and fine machinery of kindred es-
adjustments on Tower Hin, or whether
entirely simulated by the e~xigencies OF
increased business, need not to be deter
mined; but the bank of England is Just
now the scene Of unusual hustle and &C.
tivity. What is practically a fine new
entrance into the building has been :e.
| Gently opened up from Princess street.
1t has been described as a new doorway
1t is hardly this, however. The door
DID ssIagers N the esta6hshment can re-
member its having been opened.
a good many years ago, however,
during some time of popular turmoil,
this entrance was practically abolished
by building up inside of it a pondero1s
mass of briek-work and masonry. This
has been removed, and access to the in
terror of the bank may now be had on
the western side. Inside the bank, too,
there has been a considerable readjust-
ment of offices. The public drawing of
fee, for Instance, and the branch bank
Office have been transferred to the
handsome and spacious room which
formerly was the accountants bank note
Office-the Office, that is to say, in which
old bank notes are sorted and regis
tered before being stored away in the
dark vaults of the bank, where for five
years they lie packed away in little
wooden boxes, something like plum
boxes, ready to appear like so many ac-
cusing angels against any body who has
made them the means of fraud. 1t is a
little irregular to have got
| down into this neither world
of pecuniary ghosts SO early in
The course Of an inspection of the
bank, but, now that VIC are here, it may
save coming down again if we look about
us o little. There are probably people
about TO whom a region of veritable
ghosts would be scarcely more fearsome
than these gloomy, silent avenues, piled
up high on either hand with these little
wooden ~receptacles.
1t is rather a startling idea that very
possibly flashes upon the visitor as
he moves amid these silent witnesses TO
many monetary transactions that if dur
.Dg the past five years be has scrubbed
his name and address across a Bank of
England note, probably that signature is
here, and that somebody may some day
bring into the bank up-stairsa note bear
ing the same number as that which he
signed. Surprising the new arrival is
sufficiently genuine in appearance to
| pass muster-no doubt, rather a far
fetched suppOsition, unless it really is
genuine-within q few hours 81 clerk
will a down as queer a looking ledger
as ever went under the name, and will
proceed to post the note. Then it
will be seen that the proper space for a
note of that date and that number has
already been flied in. Something must
be wrong. The new arrival may be a
good note. In that case tie other must
be a forgery, and anyboiy whose name
appears on 1T may expect c-ommunica-
tIons. Any day something irregular in
the history of one oil these notes may
bring down upon any of us the a'ten-
tons of a detective, just as Mr.. Payn, in
his Lost Sir MassingDerd," makes the
famous old Bow street runner Townsend
sWoop down upon the simple old farm
er who has quite %innocently taken one
or two OF the notes traced to him from
these gloomy vaults.
A conscience is a pleasant possession
as IL trudges through these dark
avenues by the glimmer of an old fash
Toned lantern. And yet a rogue mitlt
persuade himself that he is safe enough
amid this amazing store. The
officials give YOU a little printed slip
from which it appears that IN the course
of five years the paid notes amount to
n, 745, $50 in number, and that they fill
l3,4O0 boxes, which, If placed side by
side, would reach 2 Is miles. IF the
boxes were placed in a pile they would
reach to a height of 5 % miles, or if
joined end TO end they would form a
ribbon l2,445 miles long. Their super
fetal extent is said to be rather less than
that of Hyde park. They weigh over
80 2-3 tons, and their origlna4 value was
over &l 1906 ? $50 The greatest of
rogues might be inclined to find some
comfort in the extent and intricacy of
such a store of old paper. OF course,
however, they are most systematically
arranged, and any note of the seventy
seven millions may be pounced upon
with the limos celebrity and precision.
AT the end of five years these old notes
are thrown into a furnace specially con-
for the purpose and burned.
1t is a curious fact, however, that so
firm in texture is the paper OF a genuine
Bank of England note that burning alone
have in a little glazed frame the rem
Of Chicago. Though completely charred
and black, the paper still holds together.
and the printing OF the note is said TO be
sufficiently leglble to establish its genu-
and to warrant its heiIg
cashed. There are some other notes
here that were cashed after having gone
down with the Eurydice a few Years
ago, and reduced to little better thar
DulD. Indeed. the scraDS and fravmpnta