CANADIAN SPECULATORS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 880, 25 January 1930, Page 10

CANADIAN SPECULATORS

GAMBLING IN SHARES BROKERS MAKE BIG MONEY After 15 months of marked speculative activity in mine and oil shares, the Stock Exchange business of AVestern Canada now' discloses an extraordinary phase of this form of gambling, states the special correspondent of the “Melbourne Herald.” A fortnight ago one of the largest brokerage houses in Vancouver, with scores of branches in many cities, was raided by officers of the AttorneyGeneral’s Department, who arrested the principals on a charge, of dishonest market practices. It is alleged that this firm and other brokerage houses sold shares short for every customer’s “purchase, with the result that when the local markets v'ent down, following New York’s recent slump, customers’ accounts in thousands were simply confiscated, though the brokers had already sold the stock months before on their own account. The slump is said to have made millions for every brokerage house. One is reported to have cashed in £7,000,000. The net result ot the situation, according to the case which the authorities are investigating, was that instead of the brokers owing customers millions of dollars, representing investments, these customers’ interests were simply wiped out. The Attorney-General is busily engaged devising legislation that will preclude brokers from trading in this way on their own account in future. The heads of the brokerage house now being prosecuted had sold short.