| Show THE BANE OF OP ENGLAND ENGLA what a yankee found la in conversation with the chief accountant boston journal the first person perdon that I 1 met mot on entering the bank of england waa was a y finer fable le porter ln in a quaint uniform which dates back I 1 think n hu hundred ildred years or more it left a green reen and buff impression on me gut but I 1 can not accurately des exibe its details the porter led me to a room where the executive officer of the bank was to bo be found the officer licer sir mr gray is entitled chief accountant and his position correspond very much to that of cashier of one olour banks Mr argray Gray who eat at his desk surrounded ded b byn a corps of busy clerks and who ia a 1 gentleman odthe niest w ost courteous and unassuming manners manner 4 gave me a cordial welcome and ani under his h u guidance I 1 visited ever every y department of llie the bank and lal everything which I 1 did not understand at a glance explained to we in the capital of the bank is as 14 ita in the hands bands of odthe the public about its deposits depa sits on no portion of which w aich is interest paid aar average in in these days about with its customers it has two kinds of ac to and dis discounts countI 1 that in order to tb get a discount at this bank bankit it was absolutely necessary to have a deposit account but it can hardly be possible that a banking institution with such an enormous working capital amounting anio in i to nearly is ever obliged to buy paper in the open market in order to keep up tip loans the bank discounts no bill having over three months to run the smallest city bill which it discounts is smallest country bill 20 it circulates no smaller note than 45 5 but this seems to be the only limit to denominations in a frame in the building is a canceled note of the bank of england for a and if I 1 remember rightly the bank poet rogers had hanging in his library a canceled note of the same institution for 1 I have heard that a note for once had bad a singular history it was paid out to one of the directors of ortho the bank who soon after lost it under such circumstances that he be was satisfied and succeeded in satisfying the bank that it had fallen into the fireplace and been destroyed he ile was given a new note for which he returned a proper receipt and guarantee many years after the original note was presented for payment the bank endeavored to disown it eliut could not for it was genuine and in tho the hands of an innocent person and tho the bank had to pay it its history was then looked into and it was ascertained that instead of being burned it had been carried up the chimney by a draft and had found a safe lodgment in soma some cranny in the flue here it had remained until alterations in the house necessitated the removal of the chimney then it was discovered by a workman who regarded it as a legitimate find and who presented it for payment right here I 1 may may as well relate another tory of th the bank of which there areman are many y bothin both in print and as legends but of which I 1 will let these two serve as specimens A sewer workman while poking around under ground found that tha ti by raising a flagstone he could penetrate into the bullion room ol 01 the bank amazed at the descove discovery he lie pondered over it and final finally rt V concluded that lie would utilize h it to liia his pecuniary benefit without stealing he ile therefore wrote to the directors asking what reward he be would receive if iffie lie should meet them at any appointed appointed hour of tho the night in the bu bullion lion room and thus reveal to bothem them a mode of ingress ot of which they were entirely ignorant they named a sum which would make him film independent for life and to their overwhelming sur surprise lie kept his promise by popping up through the seiver for which lie re or so this is supposed to have happened long ago |
