A COINERS' PLANT.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 May 1918, Page 8

A COINERS' PLANT.

HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED. Sydney, May 8. One of the latest funny stories told in tic Melbourne Detective Office concerns a husband who hid a bottle of whisky, a wife who searched for it, and some conn, terfeit coins which got into circulation. A. report reached police headquarters that spurious coins were in circulation in the Maribyrnong military camp, and detectives were told off to make enquiries. Tint is ho\? the funny story was discovered. A Calton resident i s fond of whisky—ft little too fond, indeed—and is forbidden by Iris strong-willed wife to partake of it. Sometimes he takes a bottle home, whereupon he ad-opts precautions, and hides the liquor. When his breath .tells the tale his wife institutes a search'. One day she explored the premises in vain. She searched behind pictures, on top of the wardrobe, under mattresses and carpets, but it was not until she stretched her arm behind the fire grate that she touched something, and concluded that the whisky was there. But ! when she pulled out the parcel she found not whisky, but 250 new florins. A soldier, a friend of the family, called, and was greatly interested in the discovery. He took one of the coins across the street to a publican; but the latter was wise, and promptly seized a hammer and nailed it to his counter. The soldier took a few of the florins to the camp, where, by way of a joke, he paßsed them off in various directions. But the careful housewife was alarmed. She tied the coins up in an old stocking and dropped them in a deep portion of the Yarra. The detectives warned the soldier, who r does not appear to have had any criminal intent. They say that they rounded up a gang of coiners in Carlton in 1908, and as that was the date on the coins they suspect that the parcel found behind the fireplace was one of their plants.