Panic in the Argentine.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6023, 21 March 1891, Page 4

Panic in the Argentine.

A scene on the Bolsa Hill, as the Exchange of Buenos Ayres is called, is Tividly described in a recent number of the Buenos Ayres Standard. At throe o'clock in the afternoon the place was filled with a surging, anxious crowd, attracted by the "erratic and meteoric leap 3 and bounds" in the golden premium. It had been at a low figure in the morning, bufc now it began to rise with lightening rapidity from 235, 240, and then by sudden leaps until it passed 300— that is to say, 300 Ll notes had to be paid for LIOO in gold- and soared to 345, and then followed a pause. "There was many a member iv the hall," says the Standard, " who, as he watched his ruin jauntily chalked up on the beautiful and shining black surface of the broker's board, sincerely believed that ho owed his doom to the damnable speculation of brokers, and brokers leagued with a few capitalists, to ruin tho country in general and him in particular." After the pause a prominent French broker bought a lot of gold at 350. Then pandemonium broke loose. 4 ' From yells and outcries they soon proceeded to personal violence. Sticks were raised, scuffles took place in various parts of the hall, and the more timid ones commenced a stampede." The uproar, we are told, was tremendous, "now and then enhanced by the peculiar sound of a stick applied to a man's body or the blow of a fist alighting on a face. Some of the infuriated investors next seized on heavy chairs and hurled them at the brokers. The brokers answered in the same fashion, and for ten minutes chairs were flying from one side to the other. Ink bottles were found to be very handy missiles, and the trail of ink," says the reporter, "spoiled many a dainty suit. A wellAnglo- Argentine broker received au ink bottle on his white hat, and the contents fell cascade-like over his light summer apparel. It is recorded as a most remarkable instance of self-restraint, that only two revolvers were drawn, and the owners of these were speedily disarmed. Finally the Bolsa was closed before the usual time, and with some difficulty the hall was cleared. Gold closed nominally at 350, no sellers. The Government tried to relieve the crisis by issuing a decree putting a stop to gold speculations on 'Change, and ordering all exchange operations to be conducted in paper money.