WISE INVESTMENT
THE best advice one can give to investors just now is : Don't rush to buy, an injunction which fortunately has a heat-wave on its side. Even a cursory glance at the Stock Exchange lists is enough to show that prices have leapt up quite spectacularly, especially in the gold mining and base metal sections. Most of the buying has been what the City calls " professional," which covers the vast and varied array of brokers, jobbers, large-scale operators and other habitual speculators who are usually able and willing to get in—or out—before the general body of investors has quite made up its mind. Having taken their seats for the autumn boom, the professionals are now inviting the public to take other seats, more expensive and rather less comfortable, for the promised joy-ride.
Frankly, the invitation cannot be r;.jected lightly. The international horizon is clearer and there are enough indications of improving trade to justify a gradual rise in security values over a wide front. I still feel, however, that the investor should refuse to be rushed and should certainly avoid chasing shares at rapidly rising prices now that the cream of the recovery from recent low levels has been so effectively skimmed. Buyers should follow a discriminating policy and make up their minds in advance what prices they are prepared to pay. If one share moves out of reach, there are usually others whose merits have not been fully discounted in the market.
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