Frauds Upon The Bank.
The Times, 1824-11-06T00:00:00

A correspDndent has sent us the following beads of a recommenda. tion for the detection of frauds upon the Bank, by means of dividend. warrants:- Great consternation has arisen throughstit the kingdom by disco- vering, in the case of Fauntleroy, how easily the Bank may be de. frauded, and how long before the guilty ma be detected. At present the country fundholder cn only ascertain the safety of his stock by means of a power of attorney, which will cost him 11. Is. 6d., besides postage. Printed stock receipt-warrants are to be had in abundance grafit at the Bank; so that a resident in the country may have remitted meney to be invested, and received a forged receipt. It is impossible for him to know the aignature of the parties to them; it therefore beheves him to look to it, as he would then be the sufferer. If the stock have been purchased, and is withdrawn by means of- forgery the Beak would then asffer. It beihoves, therefore,.each to assist the other, and the adoptian of a plan I siuggest, would, in the ensuing dividends, check aU the Con- SOg znd NTew Four per Cents. Let the Bank make out the dividend-warrants on the S!tme aper, and in the size of a Bank post-bill, instead of the present bulky do- cumnent they now give. Let every country banker request his agent in town to retmit hiwm the warrants themselves, instead of crediting him the gress amount of thein, as at present. Every fundholder could then see that his stock stood correctly or incorrectly at the Bank, and the soener an error is rectified the ea,ser it is often done; detection thereby would sooner ffilow tilt. any otber advantages wouht arise from this plan. Let a request be nmade by the Bank tbat each party endorse his warrant, and by that means the Bank clerk.s wiU have an easy reference to every tA. nature, whesn the sale of his stock may be necessary: although every one might not endorge it, the majority would. As the dividend warrants would vary in amount, erli Ps from 101. to 10,0001., the coantry bankers could4 easily crculate tbem as cash draughts on London, and they would gladly, do so, as it wauld save them the commission now psid for drawing bills, to say nothing of saving the expense Of a stamp. Apprehensions of danger may be entertained: the two greatest which 1 can imagine are the forgery of the new wranrnt, and- the danger of re,aitsiug it. As the form of the warrant wzill be ,mkntown till the day of pay- ig the dividends,gd as coantry folks might request their remt- arnce hy first post, 1brgory would be ncar}g impossible. Mrscarriage by the reglaEr mall as shuestt unknown in this coun- try; but SUppT>ose ftom.he great booty, any mail were attacked, it would SOOD be knov;n in LJondon. and every one who baid remitted by it might instantly a pp rise the Bank. Two difficultes would aso arise from it-the delicacv of such an application from one banker to another; or where one fundbolder trusts to his confidential friend in town. The banker's application would arise from a desire to satisfy his customers, and not from any suspidon of his London bsnker's in- tegrity (a thing proved not impossible); and the confidential friend would prefer reraitting an o-iginal document lo a bilL In case of trust accounts, two or more should see and Sign it. The advantages would be these:-The Bank and the fundholder would either be sAFE, or have the present means of detection-the pressure woald be less at the payments, as the warrants wculd flow in bh degrees-commerce would be benefited, by having cash draughts of the Bank at a less expense, .by saving the stamp-the country banker would save his town commission. and relief would be given to the minds of those honest agents who new receive the dividends for their country friends, that no suspicion could;M bly arise.W.B P.S. I have subitted Ithe above obiervations to a friend, wio has pointed out two other difficulties, as he cells them-viz., many wou=l be unwilling to have the arount of their dividends circulated throughout the country, and the bauner may have a warrant whicb, In amount, he has no demand for by his customers In both cases they may be returned to the London banker direct, like any other cash remittance. FAAUDS UPON THR, BANK.