FINANCIAL NOTES.
Second only to the importance attaching to the appointment of the new Premier are the speculations in the City as to who will be the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Incidentally, the City very much regrets that at a time when the finances of the country make it imperative that they should be conducted with the utmost skill, fortune has decreed that scarcely any one Chancellor of the Exchequer should be at his post for a sufficiently lengthy period to become really at home with his duties. Within the last eight years we have had no fewer than six Chancellors, which means an average of less than two years for each Minister.
Given a satisfactory arrangement of the Near Eastern ' situation and the signing of the Turkish Treaty, consider- able importance attaches to the important " deal " reported last week by the Times and the Morning Post affecting the control of the Anatolian Railways. This controlling interest has for some time past been in the hands of a Swiss bank, representing, however, German interests. Since the Tripartite Agreement collapsed there has been considerable competition to obtain from this bank the transfer of the shares giving control, and this has now been secured by a strong British financial group, two of our leading financial houses being concerned in it and also three out of the five big joint- stock banks. The Anatolian Railway is, of course, closely linked up with the Baghdad Railway system, but as there seems to have been some confusion of ideas on the matter in certain directions, it may be well to state explicitly that they are two separate systems, and that under the Versailles Agreement it was arranged that the working of the latter should for the present at all events be in French hands. Nevertheless, the districts served by the Anatolian Railway are most important, and the interests not only of this country, but of international trade generally, will be furthered by British control. * * A good response has been given to recent flotations of capital, and judging from the present indications it looks as though the next few weeks would be pretty active in the matter of new loans and new capital flota- tions. At the moment interest is largely centring in the new Austrian loan, to which I have referred on a previous occasion in these columns. Evidence grows as to the interest taken in this operation by various countries, (Continued on page 893.) and there seems, indeed, every likelihood of American banking interests being concerned in the operation. The City is looking for the appearance of the loan early in June, and quite apart from the fact that it is likely to be of historical interest in its connexion with the financial rehabilitation of Austria, the terms seem likely to be of an attractive character from the investors' point of view. * * * * It is encouraging to discern in the half-yearly report of the Yokohama Specie Bank some signs of a gradual passing away of the depression in Japanese trade and finance, a depression which it will be recalled was the result of the premature trade boom following the close of the War. The net profits for the half-year show a slight advance, the dividend is maintained, and a further amount of Yen 4,000,000 is placed to the Reserve. The balance- sheet also discloses signs of rather more activity in trade, an increase being revealed in the Bills Receivable. A. W. K.
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