WAR AND FINANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11806, 16 December 1912, Page 1

WAR AND FINANCE.

"BLACK SATURDAY" IN EUROPE. STOCK EXCHANGES IN A PANIC. LONDON, October 16. f Somebodv is making money, no doubt,in these Jays of 'uncertainty, but thou-; sands are losing on- all hands. The heedless little gentlemen who say "Fonv;ud'' and "Halt" to the armies of the Balkans, •have brought disaster upon iniio'cciitr homes in Germany, in France, in England, even in America. ;• Last Saturday the Exchanges of Europe were in a state" of panic. On the London: Stock Exchange there was positive demoralisation, and Paris brokers had seeii* nothing like it since the outbreak of the. war. with" Germany in 1870. . In many markets prices fluctuated reck-' lessly bv" points at a time, so much so that" it became a matter of extreme diffi-; culty to follow them at all. London, moreover, could no longer say with pri ie iiiat ■alf■ the liquidation. was coming from- the [Continent. London and the provinces, as Well as Paris and Berlin, were turning out stock on the market. Consols again fell heavily. From £73 10s they dropped to' £72 18s 9d, a new low record price for the. security in. its present form. Although' AVall street was closed in celebration of Columbus Day, American market dealers, marked downprices by dollars at a time, and 'Canadian Pacifies were completely .demoralised. Amid scenes of the wildest Excitement they "slumped," and ultimately closed with a loss of 8' 2 on the day and 18 on the week. Such favourites as' Rio Tintos and De Beers were offered' with the utmost freedom. Heavy falls were likewise suffered in the foreign bond market.

It was noticeable that . many foreign bonds quite outside the area of the Balkan group were pressed for sale; probably by small French investors, who were being frightened out of their holdings by the fear of European complications.

The Stock Exchange is, now v once more'under control, though slocks have notfby any means recovered themselves. The small investor, who is the real backbone of the market, has reappeared, and a considerable amount of investment business has been done: There must, of course, he further liquidations, but there is not much probability of another panic. JThe unfortunate small investors, wlio arc such a potsitt evidence of the thrift of France, were hard hit. They hold many foreign bonds, and the all-round panic struck . them full. The Bourse was conipfetelv demoralised. The collapse was' worse" than in 1882 and 1895. Feverish -liquidation continued in an almost u'n-.i broken stream. No one -ventured to buy. 7 arid offerings fell flat, meeting with : no. response. When the market opened a .per-, feet avalanche of selling orders descended tipon the" brokers, and there was demoralisation "in all departments. ,; Russian funds, in which millions: of francs have been invested by humble. Frenchmen, were quoted three francs lower than at the beginning of the day's' business, owing' to .the gloomy telegrams ■ foreshadowing the possibility of Russia and Austria being involved iii. a Balkan "upheaval. Servians and Turks' "slumped" 'in sympathy, and "Bulgarians were simply Unsaleable.' * Sensational^'tosses were >lso recorded in the various oil share's, which have'"-Sicehtly""reached inflated ' prices' or. the'Paiis "market. The'losses oh the Paris Bourse'up to a'rid .including Saturday were estimated "at £16,000,000. The Stock Exchanges of Berlin, l-ra.-ik-furt-on-Maiiie, aiid "Hamburg were thrown into a state" of wildest "alarm. Investors declined to'give, the slightest credence to official arid semi-official "assurances that the war would" be confined to Turkey and the Balkans, and dumped their shares on the market in the 'terror-stricken cbnvie tfbn that' all Europe "is oh'the brink of n conflagration." The':Bourse at St. Petersburg was also badly affected/ and financial journalists'liave*goU'to "oldest inhabitant'-; sta"e in their search for-adequate superlatives. Oric~ of. them says: "The" Berlin Bourse has'passed through days of-terror s'.ich as" the .present generation, had never before experienced.'" •' ." _ 'At Vienna there' was the same state of things, and the Hungarian Premier trie'! to check the downward .rush by, issuing a statement-"to the effect that there waj< no question of." Aiistria-HiVngary interveTmi;; iii.'fhe Baikan*'.c6nflict, and.declaring -that the" Government" only introduced the Sup plcm'e'ntary Defeucjc Estimates in view -.f ,1-h'e distant-future.;-" 7';./' - ':' .