Skinflint's City Diary
Ghana, a few weeks ago, ex: tended her territorial waters to thirty miles, with fishing rights up to a hundred. There was no moan from Britain about this unilateral action; or about other claims up to 200 miles off South America.
The British situation in law is extremely shaky. The most famous case covered by the International Court was that of the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Dispute of 1935. Norway's Royal Decree of that year considerably extended territorial waters and the Court upheld her right and this included fisheries.
But Iceland is not really a case of law, but of politics and NATO; cold war, not cod war is at stake. Prime Minister Olafur Johannesson is under pressure from the communist section of his coalition government, and prodded by the leftwing fisheries minister, to provoke crisis by the arrest of a British trawler.
Why Whitehall prefers to confuse the issue with codtrawlers remains to be seen, tor tundamentally it is the fact that inter armes silent leges; where there is no peace there can be no judicial settlement. And we are not at peace with the communist world.
Juicy cash
I went along_ the other day to hear Peter Walker speak at an Aims of Industry lunch in the City, where he talked about the rewards which should be earned by efficient management. He pointed out, interestingly enough in its obvious way; that, in the nineteenth century when we had our industrial revolution, management and proprietor were usually one and the same; but that, in the twentieth century proprietors often know nothing whatever about their business and how they are run. For this reason, he thought, really good management should be able to earn rewards equivalent to the profits made by owners. It's an interesting idea, more so than shares for workers, but I can't see the Tory party caring for it very much. Why risk ownership, if the worker-managers get the juicy cash rewards?
Very interesting
I have been watching the developing ramifications of the Slater Walker-Hill Samuel merger with great interest. There seems little doubt that the Prime Minister was himself determined that there should be no reference to the Monopolies Commission, since he is convinced that British business and banking must get organised into the biggest possible groups in order to compete effectively in the European and other foreign markets. Jim Slater, then, is being encouraged and other foreign markets. Jim Slater, then, is being encouraged to spread his wings even further, and the really Interesting news is that Slater Walker Securities has been successful in its bid for the American Franklin Stores Corporation, which is now likely to become Jim's investment holding company, buying into other American businesses and "asset activating " (to quote the new favourite description) their managements. Franklin is to be called, from July, Slater Walker of America.
Pearly gates
The Lambton tale is being defined by a rag bag of City jokes. One that is supposed to have emerged from Pratts, though it might easily have come from Ealing British Legion or Lloyd's or wherever men of the world like to collect, goes like this ...
Three young men arrive together at the Pearly Gates to be greeted by St Peter who asks each one how he comes to be there. " Your Holiness," says the first, " I had a nasty suspicion there was another man in my wife's life. I slipped back to our flat where I found my wife but though I checked every room and cupboard I didn't catch the wretch. But looking out of the kitchen window I saw a man moving across the yard ten floors down. In my rage I grabbed the refrigerator and threw it at him. It was plainly too much for me — I suffered a seizure and found myself here."
The second man replied to St Peter, "There I was leaving this block of flats having visited my sick mother when, like a bolt out of the sky, a dirty great refrigerator hit me on the head."
St Peter turned to the third man — "Now tell me my son, how is it that a healthy young man like you comes to us so soon?" "Well Father, there I was — minding my own business — sitting in this fridge ..."
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