The Hatry Crisis The British financial world has been convulsed
by a collapse to which there has been no parallel for many years. When we write on Thursday it is not known what the losses are, and it would be useless to attempt estimates ; but it is certain that the victims—mainly the banks, stockbrokers, and town corporations—have lost many millions. The tremors from a financial earth- quake of this kind extend far and must be felt for a long time. It was on Thursday, September 19th, that the recent noticeable weakness in the Hatry group of companies ended in a downward rush of values. Hun- dreds of rumours ran round the City, but it was not till the next day that the Committee of the Stock Exchange suspended dealings in the Wakefield Corporation 4i per cent. loan and in the shares of the Drapery Trust, the Associated Automatic Machine Corporation, the Cor- poration and General Securities, Ltd., the Oak Invest- ment Corporation; the Photomaton Parent Corporation, and Retail Trade Securities, Ltd. It also became known that Sir Gilbert Garnsey, the well-known accountant, had undertaken an inquiry into the affairs of the group.
Previous page
