NEW CAPITAL ACTIVITY.
On more than one occasion I have expressed the belief that very cheap money And abnormally high prices of gilt- edged securities have their dangers as well as their advantages. At the present moment investors are eagerly searching for reasonably secured investments giving a yield of 4 per cent. and upwards. It is becoming increasingly difficult, however, to find these investments in the existing list of securities, and it is scarcely surprising that there should be a good many borrowers now eager to take advantage of the situation by making fresh issues of capital. giving the - desired rate of interest. For the most part these new issues have been of a not undesirable character, but there have also not been wanting indications of some which suggest the need for much caution and discrimination on the part of the investor. Moreover, this caution is rendered the more necessary, perhaps, by reason of the growing propensity of many of the offers to be only set out in abbreviated form in the news- papers, instead of the full prospectus being advertised in most of the papers. These abbreviated notices naturally set out the most advantageous points, and I would counsel all intending investors who are not thoroughly acquainted with all the facts of the new issue of capital to secure the actual full prospectus before making their applications. The abbreviated notices usually give the names of the offices where the full prospectus can be obtained, and these should be secured, and carefully studied before the application is made. Usually the subscription lists do not open until the day after the abbreviated notices appear, and consequently the investor has time to obtain and examine the full official prospectus. A. W. K.
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