MUSHROOM FLOTATIONS.

Shannon News, 23 October 1928, Page 3

MUSHROOM FLOTATIONS.

WOMEN INVESTORS

(Sun Special.) ' : LONDON, October 2. The gambling mania has gripped London in a particularly virulent form. Xt is "a class of Stock Exchange business popularly known as "Bob Deferreds *' —the issue of new shares at Is each by mushroom.concerns, which gain a spurious reputation for fabulous ■weatlh overnight. ..Women are scrambling feverishly to participate in these paper "El Dorados." Indeed, the Stock Exchange it self has been likened to a__' footb.il. scrum. Thousands-of pounds sterling are daily passing through the Stock Exchange. It is an epidemic of gambling, pure ami simple Shilling shares are being issued bv dozens of new companies, in connection with novelty flotations, siich, as safety glass, cheap gramophone records, wireless, talking pictures, and many other things. Shilling shares mean that the smallest investor is able to participate. For iliis season, huge issues, often running into millions, -are practically certain ol over-subscription overnight, and shares invariably open at a premium. The -ise, .of course, is unwarrantable. For example, last, wie£k one gramophone company's shares advanced from" o/ie shilling' to 225. PUBLIC MUST PAY. It is the public that pays in the long run, but,-like most, gambling ventures, a taste of the smallest measure of success means that the public hangs on and becomes the victim of professional rigging of the markets by persons who are making thousands of pounds. , "The Timers" and other papers have repeatedly warned.the public of this chaotic system of finance, but it has had little effect, The stockbrokers' telephones are ringing ceaselessly. Women are large operators. The papers liken yesterday's Stock Exchange to a Rugby scrum, .while dealings are continned in the street well into the night.

A big break, like the recent one, is inevitable.

. The prices of some of the new com* panies' stock represent them as being worth millions sterling, as against a few thousands-of'assets, and virtually no goodwill. -