Show Huge Private e Graft raf Banks Have Enjoyed Will Go to Britain Dy By Service T ONDON ON-DO r o- o Sept 13 A yA sleeping ac ac- ac Lo Lor account which slumbers in the e musty led ledgers ers of or a n bank for 11 years year s might be considered not sleeping sleeping- bu but t de dead ld if f such a a. circumstance occurred In America Hero Here In England it is a matter of or course as tho the Investigations of a parliamentary committee on dormant dormant dormant dor dor- mant bank hank balances ha hao o o revealed And thereby by as tho the monkey said hangs a a. tale talc Banks Dans in Britain h have he e hitherto enjoyed ori- ori on- on joyed what tho they were pleased to call calla a perquisite In the tho form of unclaimed unclaimed unclaimed un un- claimed balances Prom From limo timo immemorial immemorial imme imme- morial If no h heirs of oC a dead elead depositor tor came forward with a valid will willor or other legal claim to tho the uncalled for Cor cash or valuables on deposit tho the bank possessing ouch JUch simply made mado no report of Increment and In course of or time absorbed the same saIDo Into its general aJ assets et As Asa a perquisite these dormant hank bank balances were about the fattest graft that could he be Imagined Depositors Do- Do dying intestate were greatly beloved by the bank banle directors nn J mysterious disappearances of oC this and amI that depositor somewhere of off In inthe tho the fringes of or a flung far empire worried the bank officials not a whit Pound Found rut nut recently Horatio Bottomley M. M rP P. P who despite his hla as ns asan asan an editor has lias a solid grounding in common succeeded against the tho opposition of ot the tho banking interests in Jamming jamming- through the house of or commons com com- mons onH a u bill hilI providing pro to lo examine into dormant balances and ami report back sug sug- Ces tI on I on the framing of ot a bill whereby tho this state would benefit b by what bad had been hitherto the tho banks' banks little private graft graft- That Thal committee has dug up somo some surprising facts For Jor Instance tho the lug banking firm of oC Coutts Coatis Co established In 1682 1653 te- te re revealed to the tho investigators h the fact that the they hall hail records of or dormant ac accounts accounts accounts ac- ac counts running running- as far tar bash back as na 1777 which they tho were ready to pay anytime any anytime an time legal demand should bo made mallo upon them Ono One such account had been paid af after after attel at- at ter tel seventy nine soy years years and and another after atter o fl years ears It was tho the banks bank's custom to carr carry an tn account six years cars after aCter Its credited owner ceased censed to dra draw upon or add to It and then to tr transfer tho the sa ne aa-ne te to lo tho the general profit and loss 05 account with the tho provision provision pro pro- vision Islon however that the bank stood ready read at et nn time to meet any legal egal demands made o ot the ba basis ls of the books books' showing Profit Involved IO The custodian of oC the dormant bal hal balances balances ances testified that tho the as rl Rato ato of or such In Coutts' Coutts bank since Inco 1913 amounted to of which they thc expected to to bo be calle upon t to lay roughly 20 30 per cent Since Sinco 1600 the tho bank had carried auch such balances on their books of or which the they had settled Th The ThA safe deposit department head revealed the fact that thc they carried box boxes s of or sliver silver plate and deeds itS bun bundles of ot documents doc IOl wills and 81 t paten I paper paper Ho no noe e estimated that counting on ot i past a at t records records records rec rec- 10 of or these moro more than ar ar- tidies Ucles eventually would bo be claimed As for tor the remainder well remainder well Tho The banks bank's accountants showed books old and yellowed by age ago which recorded hundreds hundred of or deposits of or valuables valuable negotiable paper and cash put there thero by refugees fleeing from the French revolution re But in every instance the canny French had fI finally I claimed their o own n |