THE LONDON COLLAPSE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 21, 25 January 1901, Page 5

THE LONDON COLLAPSE.

Idisasttious crash in austeali ian mining shares. I LONDON, December 29. I Contrary to all anticipation, the last | Stock Exchange settlement of the ■year proved disastrous. Checks of inine firms on the Stock Exchange ■were returned last night and thirteen ■ failures wore officially announced toi'lay. One. of these, the London and fr'ilobe Finance Corporation, is a iirrn &>l considerable standing-, having a Hi-apital of £2.500,000. ""The trouble 'centres in a particular set of shares in the West Australian mining market, I known as the Whitaker Wright-group, land taking its title from the financier | of that name, who hits been interested >fiii all of them. I The failures caused a tremendous | sensation in financial circles, and all | speculative markets were somewhat! I affected. Some idea of the severity ofi I 1 he collapse and of the panic which) in West Australian shares! §may be gathered from the fact that! SLake Mew £1 shares, which a fewj gdays ago were selling at about £15.| di'opped to £7 10/, and London and? Globe £1 shares are down to about G/J as against £1 a short time ago; while shares of Leroi Xo. 2, a British Columbian mine, have fallen straight away from £2?, to £5. LONDON. December 30. The Stinday Special's financial article explains that the failure of the first three firms mentioned in yesterday's despatches left three blocks ofj stock xinproteeted, and in self-protec-j tion ten more firms announced their suspension. Several of the suspended firms will turn out to be perfectly solvent when time, is given them. The London and Globe finance corporation group were largely the victims of circumstances. They had at the last moment exceptionally heavy calls from banks at a time, when such, loans were practically impossible to! obtain. The chairman of the London and Globe Finance Corporation, Limited, is the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, the former Govei'iior-General of Canada and British Embassador at Paris. Lord Dufferin's fellow-directors are Whitaker Wright, who is well known in connection with many companies; Lieutenant-General Somerset-Cough Colthorpe, who has been Colonel in Chief of the Fifth Dragoon Guards since 1802, and Lord PelhanvClinton, master of the Queen's household and aj son of the former Duke of Newcastle. Lord Dufferin holds 5000 shares of the London and Globe and 20.000 British Americas. The fact that a crisis has been reached in the speculations of the Whitaker Wright group of mines andj thai the worst was known occasioned a feeling of relief, after the strain at anticipation. While the mining market continued depressed other departments' quickly recovered. r Many of the West Australian and! other groups were absolutely unsaleable to-day. Since Thursday, Lake Views have lost a\ points. The British American corporation shares, which were quoted Thursday at 13/2, to-day are 10/. The failures to-day involve twentyeight members of the Stock Exchange and are equally divided among jobbers: and brokers. It is generally regarded in the mining market as being the blackest day since the Baring- smash, which was disastrous to all departments. To-day's crisis, however, did not extend to the other markets, though most oE them closed depressed. Americans were incidentally affected, owing to some of the firms which failed being interested in American securities. The London and Globe is said to be largely interested in the. Baker StreetWaterloo Electric Railroad, and the trouble is partially attributed to the money it has tied up in that'road. They are now 9/6. Although there is some nervousness in regard to the speculative shares generally lest the public should become alarmed, it is thought that probably the worst is known. The London and Globe, in one of the sub-treasuries of which, namely, Lakeview, all the trouble originated, is a highly speculative financing company which has met with much adverse criticism during the last few years.