The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-08-22
BANKING IN IRELAND.
Instances of Roguery Are Rare-An Ex'
ceptionaI Case,

Instances of Roguery Are Rare-An Ex-
ceptionaI Case.
Ireland has good reason to be proud
of her banks, and their system of bank
ing is perhaps as perfect as any that
can be devised. The small local banks
and private banking firms which are
SO numerous in England do not exist
in the Emerald isle, and their absence
gives an air of stability to Irish bank
ing which it might not otherwise
possess. Instead, Ireland has nine
great banks, and these have so spread
anetwork of branches over the country,
that every little town and village is
provided with banking accommodate
ton.
The Irish peasant is, as a rule, hon
est in his dealings with the bank OF
course he is no better than anyone
else in this respect He will take all
the money the bank is willing to lend
him, without considering whether he
is ever likely to be able to return it.
Further, if hard pressed, he will resort
to every means in his power to defeat
the banks process. But all this is, in
his opinion, fair and above board. He
has also a disposition to keep anything
he is overpaid and to look on it as a
sort of godsend, which it would be I'M
lucky to return. With these exceptions,
however, he is fairly straight, and
during an experience of twenty-three
years have met with but one case #
downright rogrery. This happened
on busy fair day, when l had large
crowd before me waiting to be paid.
l was cashing a check for a respectable
cattle dealer, and while he was count
ing the money had turned to attend
somebody else, when heard him say:
Il think this is a pound short, sir"
perhaps So" | said; ''let me see." |
took the notes, counted them, found it
was as he had stated, and handed him
another pound. Some fifteen minutes
afterward a man to whom l had just
given some fve-pound notes, called
out: This is five pounds short"
knew this could not be, for the first
mistake had made me particularly
careful told the man to count his
money again. He did and then threw
the notes back to me, saying he would
like to see me make them more. |
reckoned them. They were certainly
five pounds short; yet felt as positive
as l had ever felt about anything that
the money was correct when gave it
to him.
deliberated for an instant what l
should do No use to tell him to come
back in the evening after l had bal
anced my cash, for | suspected he had
the money, and | knew that if he once
left the office l would never see it
again. | recollected now having seen
him near the counter when was pay
ing the cattle dealer the pound his
money was short, and felt convinced
| that | had rogue to deal with.
Accordingly, | passed round to the
public part of the office, and examined
the floor under the counter; but the
note was not there. There was big
crowd looking on, and the fellow pre-
tended to be very indignant at being
doubted. | asked him if he had any
objection to turn his pockets inside
out, and he Immediately emptied their
contents on the counter. He also
opened his waistcoat, permitted he to
examine MS sleeves, ana expressed his
willingness to undress himself alto
gether if / wished. | was fairly
puzzled, and was about to give it up,
when it occurred to me to look under
his boots. When asked him to move
his feet, however, he emphatically de-
clined to do so, and knew at once his
reason for refusing. half turned to
hn t,>e f1,.
liceman, and as | did so l saw the fell
low give his leg a sudden kick back,
which sent the note flying from under
his boot across the floor. l should
have liked to prosecute this man for
attempted fraud if only for the sake
of example, but my superiors advised
to let the matter drop. So he got off.
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