C.O.
18313
REC? Red 14 SEP 31
682
}
The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, JUNE 22nd, 1891.
Ir the proposal to refer the Share Sales Regulation Bill to a Commission be carried out the Colony may expect some interesting revolations. What the Commission would naturally want to get at would be facts, which some witnesses would perhaps be only too eager to supply, but the men who know the most would be the men who would want to say the least. For the protection of the parties concerned, as well as in the public interest, it would be necessary that the Com- mission should sit with open doors, and evidence going to show the means by which such and such a stock was inflated and an- other depreciated would be eagerly perused Under the by the lovers of scandal. "Legislative Council Witnesses Ordin- ance," a witness declining to answer suy question put to him would be liable to commitment for contempt, and answered falsely would be Liable to the pains and penalties of perjury. Cop sidering the fealing at peasant pravalling in
if be
the Colony and the attempt that would al- most inevitably be made to make use of the Commission for the purpose of damaging individual reputations, the wisdom of the proposed reference is, we think, open to question. The Commission might, of course,
be instructed to conduct its inquiries with closed doors, but this would afford even greater opportunities for slander, and the result, if any were arrived at, would be viewed by the public with suspicion. And of what use could such an inquiry be? In spite of Mr. FRANCIS's attempt, on behalf of the Sharebrokers' Association, to throw dust in the eyes of the legislature, the prin ciples on which share business in the Co- lony is conducted are perfectly well known, and all that would be left for the Commis- sion to do would be to ascertain how those principles were applied by individual opera-
tors.
Mr. FRANCIS says that short selling can- not be proved to exist here, but as a matter
of factevery one knows that it does exist.
It
is not an uncommon thing to see in brokers' price lists remarks to the effect that such and such a stock is rising in consequence of report. : ed short selling, and in share-dealing circles the question of who has sold short and who is overloaded is constantly referred to and discussed. The Hon. J. J. KESWICK's re- mark as to playing with loaded dice was, we Whether think, somewhat unfortunate.
the Ordinance should be passed is a ques- tion more of expediency than of abstract morality. So long as a man keeps within the rules of the game he cannot be accused
of playing with loaded dice; if it be found that the rules do not operate fairly the ex- pediency of altering them must be consider- ed. Mr. KESWICK's sympathy has evidently been deeply stirred by the misfortunes of the many young men in the Colony who have come to grief in consequence of share specu- lation, and the subject is indeed a painful one. But sympathy must not be allowed to obscure the real issue involved in the Bill now before the Legislative Council. It seems to be generally supposed that the measure is specially directed against one large oper- ator, who in the mind of the unfortunates appears as a huge shark swimming about in pleasant waters and eating up the little fishes in undisturbed security. But each little fish would like to be a shark him- self if he could and eat up the other little fishes, and if he can find any smaller than himself he does eat them up without com- punction. We may be sorry for the little fishes, but we cannot look upou them as altogether guileless innocents. If Mr. KESWICK'S Bill were intended merely to de- prive some particular individual of the ad. vantage of his superior astuteness it would be altogether objectionable, but such, we conceive, would not be its effect. It would operate equally on both sides. Short selling on the one side means over buying on the other. Mr. FRANCIS says it is buying for the rise that has done the mischief in the Colony. Granting that it is so, Mr. KES- WICK'S Bill would be equally effective in checking the evil. In Mr. FRANCIS's ad- dross to the Council on Friday and in the letter of "A. B. C." published in an- other column it is assumed that if bearing were stopped the bulls would have it all their own way, but very little consideration will show that this could not be. Bulls operate in the hope of being able to corner the short sellers. Put a stop to gambling in non- existent shares and you dishorn the bulls and clip the bears' claws. They might still follow their natural instincts, but the amount
of mischief they would be able to do would be infinitely less. There has been some talk of the unfairness to investors of interfering with the freedom of the market. Looking at it from an investor's point of view, the in- fluence of the Bill would be entirely for good. Investors are afraid of the stock market, and are deterred from entering it by fear of the operations of gamblers. An investor wants a solid security, not one which is subject to violent fluctuations.
It seems clear, however, that publie opinion is hardly ripe for the passing of such a Bill as that introduced by Mr. KaS- WICE, though the existence of an evil calling for remedy is admitted. Various ways of dealing with this evil, other than that proposed by Mr. Keswick, have been suggested. In those sordid times it is: refreshing to be told by Mr. FRANCIS,
TT BUY A Man ata
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