THE POWER OF SOLD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1080, 27 March 1913, Page 4

THE POWER OF SOLD.

GERMANY’S WAR INDEMNITY.

Even the modern burglar with his oxy-acetylene gas would find some difficulty in getting at the Franco - German war indemnity stored up in the Julius Tower ot Spandau. Besides the of the indemnity paid by France, there is also a vast quantity of specie which would come in particularly useful if put into circulation during the present shortage of gold in the commercial world. But high military considerations make it imperative that the gold should lie there untouched.

Of course, every precaution has . beeq taken to guard this mass of treasure. It is kept in the citadel of the tower and on two-storeys of the citadel. As many as xaoo large wooden chests are employed to contain this great mass of gold. Each chest bolds in gold, so that altogether the chests conceal ,£6,000,000, They are piled up one upon another thirty deep. The inviolability of the treasure chambers is secured in the following way : The rooms of the citadel are provided with three doors apiece, and each of them has several locks. The key? Qf these locks are kept by different high officials of the War Office, so that no one by himself can enter the chambers. The doors are of steel with an oak core, and each door weighs a6cwt. This gives some idea of their strength. The gold is not simply piled up in heaps, but is stacked in bags. The chests themsptyes are ?o arranged that 3 burglary seems impossible. Every screw in the wood is sealed up, so that a breakage would appear out of the question, ft would, moreover, be immediately • noticed. The weight of each bag is known, as well as the weight of each chest, down to a gramme. An examination of the monstrous piles of gold pieces by counting them can naturally be only very seldom carried out. Nevertheless, the guardians of the treasure make every year sundry examinations in the course of which an assay of the metal is taken. Ou such occasions the chests are looked over to make sure that the seals are absolutely untampered with ; the weight of a row is taken, and some chests are even opened. From these the sacks of gold are taken, and the pieces of gold are counted. Frequently members of Parliament take part in the examination. It will be seen that the precautions taken are very thorough, and it seems inconceivable that the most trifling theft cpqld bp perpetrated, ft only remains to add that up to the present not the slightest deficiency in the whole stock has occurred.