AN OUTBURST OF BETTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1919, Page 5

AN OUTBURST OF BETTING.

The splendid spirit which caused the small British investor to add nearly £250,000,000 during the war to the savings of £250,000,000 already accumulated in the Savings Bank, has, says the Spectator, became a little faded. There is evidence of this in all directions. Any observer in the streets .of a great town must have noticed that there has been an extraordinary outburst of betting. We should not wonder if it were found on inquiry that much more 'betting is going on now among working men than ever before. The rush for every fresh edition of certain evening papers is more noticeable than wo can remember it to have been in our experience. Moreover, not content with pouring their money into the pockets of bookmakers, British working men are sending their money -.abroad to buy tickets in Continental lotteries. It is said that a particularly large amount has gone to France. Much .the same thing is true under the different conditions of the larger investor. Stockbrokers say that they cannot remember a time when investors were so anxious to buy speculative shares. These seem to be bought without any Reference to the dividend-paying capacity of the shares, but merely with a view to an unexpected rise in the capital value — sometimes, one may also suppose, with the purpose of keeping capital in a state of flux, so as to avoid paying income tax 011 dividends. The activity of the Stock Exchange is visible to everyone. The number of new issues is almost unparalleled. We seem -to be entering upon a great flotation boom, and how lonic it may last no one can yet