Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-07-07
THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
Something About the cold Lady ofThre.
needle Street.-The Pride of All rond,

Something About the cold Lady of Thread
needle Street.-The Pride of An London.
The paper of which the notes are
printed is made by private factory in
Yorkshire under strictly guarded CON
ditions, and with the water mark which
is SO conspicuous a feature. It is of
silvery white and so strong that it will
sustain fifty pounds weight when sus-
pended at the corners.
: Each individual note as soon as issued
has number, letter, date, and depomi-
nation placed to its debit in a ledger
account, the per contra being filled on
; the return of the note, perhaps the
next day, perhaps in fifty years time.
Some years ago lot of FL notes issued
in the middle of last century we're
handed in for payment A reference
to the ledger of that date showed the
, credit side of the note account, with
corresponding numbers, to be open, so
the drafts were duly honored.
The lowest denomination now issued
is of 94, the highest 100000. A nota-
BILE feature of the Bank of England
note when compared with that of other
issues and countries, is its crispness
and clearness The simplicity of de-
sign and clearness of lettering and fig
uring are also conspicuous. The rea-
son why we never find tattered and foul
Bank of England bills or bank notes.
| as the Englshman prefers to call them,
| arises from the custom of the bank
never to issue one of its notes a second
, time. This rule is so scrupulously OBJ
served that should thousand notes of
95 each, issued in the morning in ex-
change for gold at the issue depart
/. ment, come into the hands of the bank
ing department as customers deposit
in the afternoon, possibly without
having been united, they would be i'm
mediately cancelled. This cancellation
is performed by tearing off the sigma
ture corner of each note, the number
and date first being recorded by the re-
ceiving clerk in his counter cash book.
The mutilated bills at the banking de-
partment are collected at short inter-
walls by clerk from the accountants
department, where they are sorted into
their respective denominations and
placed in their individual ledger
credits. They are then stored, and
then after ten years interval consigned
to the flames.
The detection of forged bank note
is almost inevitable under this system.
Simply to initiate the bill is difficult,
the difference in the best imitation
being readily perceptible to practiced
touch. 70 counterfeit the printing is
almost impossible, owing to the absence
of completely to confuse the eye, and a
third reliance for the paying teller as
he rapidly scans the notes before
shoveling out the gold in exchange is q
peculiarly in the formation of certain
letters known only to the initiated.
Should forgery slip through these
guards, the numbers and date and de-
nomination must all correspond with
the ledger entry, and should all these
agree the chances are that the legiti-
mate note will have already filled up
the blank.
It is the rule in all London banking
houses, and in most private establish
ments, to record the date and number
of every bank note passing through
their hands, together with the name of
the person presenting it. The Bank of
England, moreover, requires the en-
dorsement of the holder of every note
or parcel of notes presented for ex-
change for gold or for notes of other
denominations This system greatly
facilitates the detection of fraud.
The actual cost of each Bank of En-
land note issued is about five cents. An
ordinary days issue of notes, with
corresponding number cancelled, is
from 1000 to 80, 600; but when for
gerry is known to be ahoat all OF that
particular denomination are poured in
by their holders for exchange or re-
demption, and as many as $4,000 notes
under such circumstances have been
presented and cancelled in one day.
As an Offset to this expense, the
yearly gain to the bank in notes de-
stroyed by fire and water amounts to
q large sum, which, however, is taken
into account by the Government when
adjusting its national debt and Exche-
auer arrangements with the bank.
The "Old Lady of Threadneedle
Steeet," as the Londoner lovingly calls
the institution, which next to his Queen,
he most deeply reveres, is very liberal
when dealing with cases of notes de-
stroyed or mutilated. The secretary's
office attends to these matters, and
there may be seen daily remnants of
notes which have undergone every con-
ceivable ordeal short of absolute de-
struction.
Little pulpy masses which have
passed through the digestive apparatus
of dogs and children, half-burned pieces
that have unwittingly done duty as
remnants of every kind
of which enough is left to indicate in
the faintest degree the original worth
all receive full consideration, and the
owners lose nothing. Even total de-
when fully proved, is no bar
to indemnifcation when good security
against possible mistake is given.
Driving Herd Of Seals.
This driving of the fur seal inland is
not uninteresting. A number of Aleuts
having gotten between the animals on
the ahore-most of them probably