Bank note in this Act includes a note of any person.
or boay corporate carrying on tbe business of banking
in any part of the world; and the provisions of the
Act could therefore be used to deal with casea of
suspected forgery of foreign bank notes.
The question
of what constitutes "lawful authority or excuse" in
such a case is not easy to answer in precise terms,
but it is for the person charged to establish his
authority or excuse, and in order to succeed on this
ground he would prima facie have to produce evidence
of a bona fide contract with the foreign bank in
question.
The definition of bank notes in the Act
would not appear to cover currency notes issued by a
foreign Government, but it is proposed to remedy this
deficiency in the legislation which will require to be
introduced to give effect to the International Convention
for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency signed at
Geneva on the 20th April 1929.
I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
APWaterfield