Stock Exchange Morality.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2033, 18 July 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Stock Exchange Morality.

Perhaps there aro fen- institutions possessing attributes more diatnetiicnlly opposed to oiio another than tho Stock E\clnngc. Undoubtedly useful in its way, it nevertheless abounds in gross abuse. It is n necessity to tho bonujirh' invc->tor, as indicating the locality where ha can on tho instant purchase or iind a maiket for almost any stock m the world : yet it bpcoines> a very hotbed of vice in the hands of tho professional speculator. We apply this t^rm to the man who fraudulently buys without the intention of paying, and worse still, sells what ho does not possess. Take a quite recent illustration of tho two evils. Only a shoit time ago, a letter purpoiting to como from Mr. Gladstone's private secretary, addressed to tho Hecretaiy of tho E\ch.ingc, was received by him, and posted up in the House. It stated that certain nnoxpected interests would bo paid to the Peruvian bondholder The price went up ovev thirty por cent, in a few moments, so that any one having bought ten thousand pounds-worth the day before, could have then sold them for nearly fourteen thousand pounds. It is more than probable that the writer of the foiged letter had previously purchased without any intention x>t payiug or ' taking them oil,' and on the imposition taking effect, at once sold out not only those ho possessed, but also lnoio that he did not possess. Within half an hour, the forgery whs discovered, when the price immediately foil the thirty per cent, it had just risen. Thus this impudent adventurer would not only secuie an t'noi mous profit by the rise, but by buying back on the fall the extia quantity he had sold on the rise, leap an additional profit. Now, it is tins class of gambling, particularly the selling of what one does not possess, for the purpose of depressing the value of a certain stock to the piejudice of leal owners, that constitutes tho most unwholesome clement of our Stock Exchange. Every conceivable artifice, the most consummate cunning, the most unblushing lies, are employed to depreciate ft secunty which has either riben to a high figmo on its merits, or else been pulled up artificially b( forehand. Syndicates, as they are called — combinations of unpuncipled men usually — nre found for the purpose, and thoio ar.> indeed very few stockb existing at the present day that aio not honoured by their special syndicate. On any unfavourable rumour, more often concocted than otherwise, these eagle-eyed monsters swoop down upon their unsuspecting and inoffensive proy, attacking with tho foiociousness of a bear, until, in sheer dnspeiation, one victim after another succumbs, mid sells out to tho ' bear ' at an enormous sacrifice, in order to save the remnant of his dwindled inheritance. If, as they were uttered in it, tho falsehoods of a single day could but glue themselves to and stick on the walls of that building, it would bo a feat impossible of achievement fora fly to crawl unscathed between thorn ! Monte Carlo is bad ; but an institution where more fOlf 01 tunes are dishonestly lost and wou in a day than at that notorious gambling-place in a week, must bo at least no bjtlor, if not infinitely worse. That theio are men of integrity on 'Change, men of known principle, gentleman in every sense of the woid, admits of no doubt : and it is thoy who would first appreciate any effort, legislative or oth> rwise, for tho suppi es9ion of the practices alluded to heie. An act called "Lceman's Act' was pa=sod some yeais ago for the special piotection of shareholders in banking establishments, which made it illegal to s°ll shaies af any bank without first proving youibelf to to ba a hand ptlt holder of us shares, giving their respective numbers etc. The same protection should be ailorded to eveiy shareholder, no matter of what stock ; and the time has now aruved for tho legislature to take tho nutter seriously in hand. The blessings conferred the eby would bo inestimable.