17 DECEMBER 1937, Page 34

A PRIOR CHARGE GROUP If money does get dearer and

fixed-interest stocks beconie correspondingly cheaper, it will obviously not be the fault of the British Treasury. There' is nothing wickedly infla- tionary in official policy; it is just a little Machiavellian. When discount rates begin to harden, the movement is promptly nipped in the bud by an under-allotment at the weekly Treasury Bill offer. A nod or a wink in the Consol market and gilt-edged prices rally sharply after any moderate fall. If the powers of the money managers are not unlimited, they are certainly very impressive and are being employed with astonishing success. I see little danger, in these circumstances, in investing in good prior charges whose prices should not be threatened by any