The Evening Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 555, 20 October 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1871.

" For the cause that lacks assistance, For the w.ons that needs resistance, For the futu c in the dis^nce, ■ ■, And the good that we cxx do.

No doubt good will result from :theoperations of the measure to.regul.at.q sharebroking at present., ;t prpceedinir through Parliament,; even though some of its provisions reveal,the dull wits of tie Assembly. Something. ,yvas required to Regulate the dealings in scrip: whether -ther. present Share brokers' Bill provides that something remains to be seen. The'mere licensing of sharebrokers will of itself be a good thing, as serving to give them a distinctive character, and as affording the basis for a recognised . Mining Exchange, the operations of .whicli will. do more to regulate the. trade than the pains and penalties of the Act. The license fee is not an' oppressive one, and is framed doubtless with the intention of not imposing unreasonable difficulties in the way of any person desirous of entering on this line of business. The necessity of providing two sureties of£LOO each, .does not impose conditions of a prohibitory character, and any man with a: decent coat on his back, who cannot obtain two friends to go security for him to that amount, must have something in his principles and character that will prevent many transfers being placed in his hands. The personal bond: for £2000 is inserted in the. bill for effect, and for all practical purposes might as well have been made £2,000,000. It will serve however to show the respectability of the business, and a man obliged to give security for £2000 will be regarded a/s A * person of some consequence among his fellows. As- to sharebrokers being obliged to prove personal property to the extent of their bonds, as suggested by a morning contemporary, we would hasten to allay the feeling of terror which such an idea is calculated to inspire. Legislation of this character would be manifestly so unfair, and so contrary to the spirit.of the measure itself, that we may rest assured, such a sweeping out of sharebrokers, never would have been contemplated by the Leginlature. ,^Wado>not Say-that the application of such a rule would shut up every, office in the Exchange Buildings, and every sharebrOking; office ia the city, but the remaining

m nbep of sharebrokers would be so small as to inflict a public calamity But personal bonds dp not require proof of value, and (he £2000 bond must- >>c regarded as one oi the oriia mental appendages of shar&brokers. One well-inteiiM'oncd, but .\'cr\ '■ foolish clause, prohibits sharebrokers, from trafficking in their own stock. 11l such a clause could produce the results intended, it would be, beyond comparison, the most valuable iv the bill.! Playing with the interests of clients... making them the means of safety fcol the sliarebroker's own investments,! buying for clients, and keeping the! shares on his own account if there is aM fise, selling for clients, and substitut-s . ing his own shares if. tlnst-i- « a tall f buying and selling for BiiASeltand hit. | clients prqiniscuqusly, sacking the! •narrow of the market, and throwinj the dry bone to'liis constituents, am generally placing the interests of hi | clients as a buffer between himsel-! md the rude collisions of aa excite< market; these are. of tb.e^iways |^| ire dark, aiid the tricks!that are vdn^ : t at Eave made men.sufcpTcioiis of th< scf-ip ring, and demand legislation. Btil 1 these ai'e precisely the class of evil | from which legislation will afford in ; leliverance, and especially such a pro 1 vision as that iv the bill which w have quoted-".: A r .9har,ebroker, if h< ■vishes, can liave-hrs" ow^n" particuln f-iend ; and his friend's interests —thai is his own, can be made to pass througi all the phases through which :

sliarebroker's own shares are at pre sent made to pass. And through th simple means of a broker's " other self,' he can drive a coach and six throug 1 the Act of Parliament. There an sharebrokers who do not dabble ii shares, but those who wish to do so,-i' is not in the power of legislation t< :prevent. The touch of mining stock sharpens men's wits, and when tin legislature essayed to impose restric tions on the trade in transfers, it re quired an acuteness of perception thai is not manifested in the new iShare brokers' Bill. < ■■:.:>