SENSATIONAL THEFT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 114, 7 February 1919, Page 5

SENSATIONAL THEFT

ONE THOUSAND £1 NOTES STOLEN

Yesterday afternoon the police were informed of the theft of one thousand £1 notes belonging to the National Bank of New Zealand, and before long the city was quite thrilled with the news of this/ sensational robbery. ' How and when it occurred is not yet known, but from the meagre particulars available it appears that the notes were extracted from a box containing new notes, shipped at London by the New Zealand Shipping Company's liner Ruahine, and consigned to the National Bank of New Zealand. The notes are already in circulation in this city, • and have been accepted by the banks. The notes wero perfectly new when stolen, were unsigned, and were all dated 11—1— 18. They consisted of two lots of consecutive numbers, viz., Nos. 599,801 to 600,000 inclusivo, and Nos. 600,201 to 601,000 inclusive. They nil bear false (signatures, and wero soiled and crumpled up to disguise their newness before being put into circulation.

Tho presence of these stolen notes in the city has already come to the notice of certain business people, who accepted them without_ question till' they became acquainted with the circumstances pf their circulation.

The liner Ruahine left London for New Zealand on December 8 last via Panama, •md arrived at the canal port on December 26, leaving tho next day for Auckland, where she arrived on Monday, January'2o. The vessel left the north- , erri port on January 23, arriving here at 2.10 p.m. on the 26th. On January 31 at 4.20 p.m.,.. the Ruahine left port for Lyttelton and Dunedin, and is still on the southern coast.