THE MINT DOES ITS LAUNDERING

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1928, Page 3

THE MINT DOES ITS LAUNDERING

By I. M. X. .lEFFHIES, in the l.oiidon " Daily Mail.”) I lie tran.-.lormatiiui ot old coins into new begins in one of file furnace-looms ”1 the Mint. Figure to yourself, however, not so iniic-li u room as some gaunt tactory hall, stone floored and lolly, with endless tackle and gear overhead. Down the hall runs what’ seem series of ” coppers ” let into one long masonry bench. These apr the lurnaces and tin: secondary furnaces or pro-heaters into which through lines the waste heat of the lurnaces proper is canalised, since nothing i- really wasted at the Mini. "Waste ” is a formal word there, alums between in-

It is strange laundry which goes into tlioso coppers. Front under ilio dosed lids of some are bursting with a mar green Ihinios, fin nil's Hushing mid (lash ing sidoways with tin.- force of their blast. The dark di-cs of the lids, with the green flames springing from licnentli them, form some sort of counterpart to the sight of the eclipsed snu. helmoted bv the moon and waving his gold plumes. Now and then a lid is raised and the workmen lower a crttcihle into iho lire, filled with coins, moots, and metal scrap. Three linos of silver coins on an average go into a crucihle—tfilHi worth at a time. Sealed linos are opened into special shovels and from these the silver seeking a now soul is sunk into the regenerating fire. After a lirst period in the pie-heater the metal is moved into the fiercer heat of the main furnaces. Pincers descend from a crane and the long pocket-shaped crucihle, . a foot and a half in length, guided by workmen who grasp it with tones, is In were I again into the oven. The fiery pocket as it passes is all glowing and gasping and rod as with overmastering; anger. Presently it is lifted out and carried hv the crane right. down the hall, alongside what looks like a radiator ol the thinnest motor-car on earth, a ear w Ilic h could pass through a sliding panel. At a sort of gun-shield platfurm overlooking this, peering through r mica window, stands the loremnn. the inspector of hlay.es. lie peers and tunc wheels and the orueihle tilts and mill hum it- lip a laiiihent line ol molten metal pours into the narrow, open tithes ol the radiator. Wo have seen- shall we say?—the Idrlli of our shilling:. It is horn in clouds and confusion, lor the tithes—which arc moulds—am oiled to prevent metal sinking to their -ides, and the oil. as the thread of metal flows in. breaks into (lames and smoke, and sparks itlv like driven wind Horn *ke i rucible. i t j., a wildly splendid sight. made |,y the contrasts ol light and m shade. I.iglit and shade, though are weak words to use. for round the furnaces and pouring-places ol the Mint dn\ and night themselves play with "t"' another. The linn features and fine frames of the workers are caujilit alternately in glow and gloom. I hey have somethin!' the look ol sailors in their black working garments, with their wide collars and open nocks, as thev move with competent composure from furnace to mould and mould tolurnace. They hend over the gaping mouths I of the furnace to stir the meltingmet.il with long rods, for they have learned with time to lean for a space over those fires, which in their deepest depths store 2.:«K> deg. Fahrenheit of heat. A mist of steam arises continually from their sacking gauntlets, kept ever drenched in water: they have no masks, their hair tosses and their eyes are lit as they thrust forward over that hree/.o of fire. At a given moment, with the tegularitv ofliahit, a man flings his head hack and upwards, like an orator appealing to the skies, a magnificent gesture as it is caught there m the stream of mounting light front the furnace. It is when he experiences Huif shade more of incandescent heat which he must, avoid, and long |«rae-I lice has taught him to t imo it to tic instant. Put life is moving in our shilling, as i, a-erc. though it is as yet only born in mass. Out of the cooled moulds is drawn the frame of itself and its maiiv brothers a liar of dull-coloured metal. »a t far. rather like a har of plain chocolate, with the same roughis i edges chocolate lias when von break one piece from another. The bars are set to cool their long lengths awhile on trollies. Tt is as well if you visit the Mint to be careful about touching Pars of innocuous-looking metal <n lew ted on trollies, for they may perhaps prove more collected than cool. And now the bars come into contact with the hard world. A workman takes them and thrusts them m turn into a machine which nips theii io''K 1 ends off. snip— instantaneously like that, and finite unceremoniously as though no silver blood ran m then •eins. Thence they are wheeled to the •olling-mills. whither next time wo shall follow them.

whom lie borrowed considerable sums of money. In 1922 he was living in the South Belgravia district. While there he gave an order to a builder to make alterations to his rooms, but he never paid the bill for £2OO. Believing his .statement as to the fortune awaiting him, his landlady allowed liiin to remain at his roams and he now owed her more tlm £4OO. < [’iron, while admitting that he had [ nothing to live on and owed a lot oi ] money'said the American woman, who was now dead bought the decorations in Brussels and insisted on his wearing them amt posing as tile iWairjiiis do Briandt. Piron was sentenced to 11 days’ ini- ' prisonment and recommended for de ’] portation. 1