BRITISH INVESTORS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24227, 20 February 1940, Page 9

BRITISH INVESTORS

HOLDINGS IN AMERICA SEQUESTRATION ORDERED LONDON, Feb. 18. (Received Feb. 19, at 11.55 p.m.) A Treasury order announces the first call up of Britain’s dollars. It compels investors in the United Kingdom with holdings in 60 nominated United States railway and industrial undertakings to sell to the Government. It is hoped that investors will reinvest in British Government stocks. It is believed that £24,000,000 was involved in Saturday’s Wall street dealings. Prices will be paid in exchange of four dollars three and a-half cents.

REACTION IN AMERICA THE MOVE WELCOMED NEW YORK, Feb. 18. (Received Feb. 19, at 11.55 p.m.) The sequestration of British investors’ holdings of leading American stocks is generally welcomed, as it is felt that liquidation by the Bank of England is a far more orderly method than by small holders. There is no hint of a shortage of dollar exchange, as the large British balances are constantly replenished by steady sales of gold and securities.

The Federal Reserve Board estimates that the Empire’s holdings of good securities in the United States exceed 3,000,000,000 dollars. The Washington correspondent of the New York Times says it is felt that sequestration of British investors’ holdings in America may portend the expansion of British purchases from the United States.