15 DECEMBER 1990, Page 29

Bond goes west

THE feeling of Alan Bond's collar prompts a City friend of mine to promulgate Bond's Law: Never invest on a west coast. In Western Australia, all the cronies who seemed to have their own private mints have gone under — busted, arrested, or defunct. Furthest west and furthest out is Vancouver, where the tallest stories and deepest mines (like Double Eagle) find a market. Now I see that the Vancouver stock exchange, worried to be losing money, plans to improve its reputation. Don't try it, fellas. Though theoretically easy, it could prove fatally drastic — like sending Carrie Nation into the Last Chance Saloon.