The Fixed Trust Report The attraction of Fixed Trusts for
the investor is already such (though the idea was only introduced into this coun- try from the United States three years ago) that it was quite time the Stock Exchange took cognisance of the whole Position. The report of its sub-committee is fully discussed in our City columns this week, and little need be said on the matter here. The principle of the Fixed Trust is familiar. It is, in effect, an association which buys a quantity of shares in some twenty or thirty com- panies, and enables purchasers of sub-units of its stock to draw their appropriate quota of the collective divi- dends, less some deductions for expenses. The small investor, therefore, who has not the means to spread his risks for himself .over anything like so wide a field, can get them well spread by buying his share in a Fixed Trust's portfolio. It is an admirable and useful system, and the management of most existing Fixed Trusts is beyond Suspicion. But success may well bring more questionable competitors into the field, and regulation, whether by Stock Exchange rules or by legislation, is in everyone's interest.
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