Unwanted Money

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 478, 6 October 1928, Page 1

Unwanted Money

| POLICE HOLD SEVERAL j I SUMS FOR PEOPLE WHO ] I DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE MISSED IT. NO INQUIRIES BY OWNERS There are still honest people in the world, despite what the pessimists say. Several sums of money which have been found lying in city streets, and are now held by the police, do not seem to have been missed by their owners. So far there has been no inquiry for the money, although there is one sum of £lO included in the police collection. Only yesterday a young woman picked up about £4 in notes in a suburban street, and took her find to the police station, thinking that perhaps the anxious owner would call there for it. But no, apparently the notes have not made any difference to the household concerned.

People who lose money seem also to have lost their faith in human nature. Apparently they think that once lost the money has gone forever, and frequently they do not even bqther to report their loss to the police. Some days ago a constable found a considerable sum in notes lying in the street. So far there has been, no inquiry for it. At present the police are looking for the owners of several sums of money, ranging from about £lO to single notes, all of which have been found lying on streets and footpaths. They also have numbers of purses containing various sums of money and personal articles, and in addition there are many bicycles, umbrellas, parcels containing all kinds of things, jewellery, brief bags and dozens of other odds and ends lying unclaimed at the Central Police Station. Money and articles found and handed to the police are kept in security until the owners choose to make inquiries. Frequently the police make every endeavour to trace the owners and often go to the trouble of advertising their finds.

Money which has been found is kept for at least six months, after which it is returned to the finders, whose property it becomes. All this means a considerable amount of work for police officials in keeping check of the honest people who find the money and returning it to them months later. Unclaimed property which has been handed to the police is disposed of by auction in the same way as is done by the Railway Department and the tramways.