The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-10-14
BANK ACCOUNTS
ASLEEP" AZ YEARS
BRITISH INSTITUTIONS SAID TO
HAVE ENJOYED FAT GRAFT"
FOR A LONG TIME.

LONDON, Eng.-A sleeping ac-
count" which slumbers in the musty
ledgers of a bank for 142 years
might be considered not sleeping, but
dead, if such a circumstance occurr-
ed in America. Here in England it is
matter of course, as the investiga-
tions of a parliamentary committee
on dormant bank balances have re-
vealed.
Banks in Britain have hitherto en-
joyed what they were pleased to call
a Prerequisite" in the form of un-
claimed balances. From time imme-
mortal, if no heirs of dead deposit
tor came forward with q valid will
or other legal claim to the uncalled
for cash or valuables on deposit the
bank possessing such simply made
no report of this unearned increment
and, in course of time, absorbed the
same into its general assets.
AS a prerequisite" these dormant
bank balances were about the fattest
graft that could be imagined. Depos
itors dying intestate were greatly be-
loved by the bank directors, and
mysterious disappearance" of this
and that depositor somewhere off in
the fringes of far-fiung empire wor-
ried the bank officials not whit.
Surprising Facts Found.
But recently Horatio Bottomley,
M. P, who, despite his theatricisms
as an editor, has solid grounding
in common sense, succeeded against
the OPPOSITION of the banking interests
in jamming through the house of
commons a bill providing for the APP
pointment of a committee to examine
into dormant balances and report
back suggestions on the framing OF
bill whereby the state would bene-
fit by what had been hitherto the
banks little private graft. That
committee has dug up some surprls-
ing facts.
For instance, the banking firm Of
Coutts & Co., established in 1852, re-
vealed to the Investigators the fact
that they had records of dormant ac-
counts running as far back as 1777
which they were ready to pay any
time legal demand should be made
upon them.
One such account had been paid
after seventy-nine years and another
after thirty-four years. 1t was the
banks custom to carry an account
six years after its credited owner
ceased to draw upon or add to it and
then to transfer the same to the gen
eral profit and loss account; with the
provision, however, that the bank
stood ready at any time to meet any
legal demands made on the basis of
the books showing.
Enormous Profit Involved.
The custodian of the dormant bal
ances testified that the aggregate of
such in Coutts' Bank since 1913
amounted to $4,000, of which they
expected to be called upon to pay,
roughly, 20 per cent. Since 1850 the
bank had carried $3.50 such balances
on their books, of which they had
settled only 700.
The safe deposit department head
revealed the fact that they carried
4,465 boxes of silver plate, jewelry
and deeds; 3,798 bundles of docu-
ments, 9O1 wills and 81 patent pa
pers. He estimated that, counting on
past records, 12O of these more than
1000 articles eventually would be
claimed. AS for the remainder
we'll.
The banks accountants showed
books, old and yellowed by age, which
recorded hundreds of deposits or val
uables, negotiable paper and cash
put there by refugees fleeing from
the French revolution. But In every
instance the canny French "eml-
grees" had finally claimed their own.