Everybody's busybody
The danger to the parsons, widows, orphans and long suffering unit holders is that the trust becomes locked into relatively large holdings in small preyed-upon com- panies whose shares are difficult to liquidate when there is pressure on the unit's funds through redemptions. The International Federation of Stock Exchanges is urging a close watch on the less acceptable aspects of the Wider Share Ownership movement, including offshore funds, property funds and domestic unit trusts. Mr Nicholas Ridley, the new Under-secretary for Industry under Mr John Davies, is responsible and it is to be hoped that he will be prevailed on by the Cabinet, even though he may not have the heart or knowledge himself, to undertake wide-ranging reform by setting up nothing less than what might be called a Securities and Exchange Authority similar to America's SEC with as much power as the Americans possess under their Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. He will need a knowledgeable someone with a sense both of grievance and zeal—what about everybody's pet busybody Mr Fred Catherwood. who must be missing the limelight and wanting to get back in his pulpit.
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