ALL THAT GLITTERS NOT GOLD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 941, 7 October 1910, Page 5

ALL THAT GLITTERS NOT GOLD.

b£ : :};' l h^roerits.:; of ." the ; : new; ■j' r '''.V '!■ ■ inventedvby : A;' T. Firthl'pf : . ■' A™ldand, r pla{in'g,'have beeii . ;'.'6'eizedV; ; upon: by . some nefarious : individ- ,;:.-.■; nals.s for, converting, sixpences . into : half-'. <■•.. ",'.' sovereigns ■'-, and : pennies; into. florins, and ,:.;,:, passing ■ them . off. on'the public. It is ,>"';, reported;: (says; the' Auckland-"Herald") :-■ ;;■ that :. quite-.aVnumber. ; ;of ■ tradespeople,. .-. ;: newsboys,:tram conductors; etc., have'been' :':: by: this, means .lately, arid that ;:-.• the imitation,. "gilding" and "silvering"' . ; : .in,:each-;:case,.has so remarkably '.;■;■ good that-.the.:bank tellers in the banks . .. . .rhave been.warned;to be careful in passing '::..■;.;':-.. : Doth,-gold-and silver;coins.: , : •;. ;A-prominent local bank'iriatiager'; when . ; repoken'to by a,*rHerald" representative v •'■'•>Jn-°t 9Ul jj a . ser ious..view of the position. ■■■-■'■'': : '^'-.-''' i ??7?»'.'.Bß : said;;;''se6ii-'a penny treated ; ■-.:■ by fthis; new'.powder,, and.'when the coin ' ' ~is.put m. with a.lot of silver it is quite ■ :,.. ..-/possible for it.tobe taken for a florin or : \:;.;.:;:-ha i-crown by .'even the.most experienced '. ■:' :.\ tellers; ,:L regard-the invention, though I : .-admit its undoubted merits;by saying so,-' ;-,'.. , as.one -that .is fraught:withi considerable .. danger: to-the: public from the point of ••■. view that; it greatly, enhances the-chance ■'••' '■■ ? J '5 a r nn ß, off■ spurious.'coins. Of think---•"■■'•-S? tnat tQ ,e inventor anticipated such a '■.-:' ; of 'course, acquit him, ;..;.. but, still the: danger is there, and it is ," ■'. mpre-likely.-;to' assume great- proportions ■-."-.■■.. - than under;finy other;system' of making ,-. .spurious coins'that ;I have yet -.'known. -• 1 his, -of course,..raises the issue;of howi '.- : are we to.check,it?: The only: method I .... '; .can.see.by.iwhichthis.can.be done-'-is •'i : -R?'-. 1551,1 K'-- a ' MW -. system' of coinage, so ■.'..; that a gilded sixpence cannot be mistaken .:■ wr.a' half-sovereign or a silvered penny ./..vfor a flonn or half-a-crown. Another' ; means, of..checking the evil would; be by sentencing those who had been proved ...,. guilty, to, wilfully: tendering such coins'to V .:. ■ lengthy terms; of. imprisonment."