THE TOWER OF GOLD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 14, 3 September 1914, Page 6

THE TOWER OF GOLD.

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 of Spandau. "Besides the £6,- ' 000,000 of the indemnity .paid ..-• by FraJi<&e,? there %*also a!'vast quantity of specie, which .would comji;in particularly usefriFlf put into circulation during 1 the present shortage of gold-in the commercial world, j But high military considerations make it imperative that the gold sh6uld lie there untouched-' r Of course 1 , every precaution has been taken to guard this mass of treasure. It is kept in the citadel of the towm} and on two storeys of the citadel. As many as 1200 large wooden chests are employed to contain this great mass of gold. Each chest holds £SOOO 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 keys of these locks are kept in different high officials in 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 26ewt. This gives some idea of their strength. The gold is not simply piled up in heaps, but is stacked in bags. Each chest holds ten of these bags. The chests are so arranged that a burglary seems impossible. Every screw in the wood is sealed up, so that a breakago would appear out of the question. It 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. On such occasions the chests are looked over, to make suro that the seals are absolutely unhampered with; the weight of a row is taken, and some chests are even opened. From these 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 could be perpetrated. It only remains to add that up to the present not the slightest deficiency in the whole stock has occurred.