XN000022-1973-03-28 — Page 23

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Wednesday, March 28, 1973

MEASURE TO COOL DOWN STOCK MARKET DEFENDED

Securities Bill To Be Introduced In Early Summer

The Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, today defended

the measures taken by the Government to dampen down and smooth out the

volume of transactions on the stock exchanges and to restore an orderly

market.

Speaking at the resumed Budget Debate in the Legislative

Council, he said it was not for Government to pass judgement on the level

of share prices, but it was concerned to see that an orderly market was

being maintained.

To ensure the orderliness of trading, he said the "Government must

accept an obligation, where there was frenetic activity, to dampen down the

volume of activity so that it could be assimilated within the market."

The Government was also concerned with maintaining an orderly market

in terms "of the absence of questionable practices designed to distort or

influence prices to the benefit of particular traders."

The Financial Secretary referred to the "critical references made

by a number of Unofficial Members to the state of the stock exchanges, and

said: "I do not know whether, if they were speaking today, they would say

the same things or whether their criticisms might have become somewhat more

muted as a result of the not entirely unexpected events of the past two weeks."

/Speaking on *******