SHANGHAI, June 28 -- A HUSBAND in Nanjing salvaged his cache of cash from a septic tank after his unwitting wife mistook his secret money hoard as rubbish and flushed it down the toilet, the Nanjing Morning Post reported today.

The husband, surnamed Huang, wrapped 2,000 yuan (US$262.47) of ``secret'' income in a black plastic bag and hid it in the water tank of the toilet in his apartment last month.

"My wife controls the incomes and expenses of our decoration material shop," Huang said. "I didn't want her to know this money."

Time passed and the husband was always too busy to deposit the money into the bank. But yesterday, his wife found a problem with the flushing of the toilet.

The couple were engaged in a furious quarrel when police were called to their residential area in Baixia District, said the report.

According to the wife, she opened the water tank to check what was wrong and found a black parcel.

"I thought it must be something useless, so I got it out of the water and flushed it down the toilet without a second thought," the wife said.

With the help of the police, Huang quickly got his money back.

He cut open the plastic coverage carefully and found the paper cash inside undamaged.