Financial Notes
BELGIUM LOAN SUCCESS.
MARKET hopefulness concerning a termination ere long of the coal stoppage has 'been mingled during the past week with concern as to the result of the Municipal elections, and Stock Exchange business has been rather quiet. At the same time, there has been an undercurrent of optimism, helped in some measure by the'suceess which has attended numerous flotations ' of capital. As I anticipated last week, the success of the Belgian Loan was phenomenal. No exact figures have been published, but I should probably not be far out in suggesting that' the English portion of the Loan for £7,250,000 was forty times covered. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that it should have been found necessary to eliminate all applications beloiv £1,000. Nevertheless I cannot help think- - ing- that in loans of this description where the terms are palpably of an exceptionally favourable character to the investormatters might be helped by making the sum payable on application very much larger. If, for example, on the present occasion-the application money had been 20 per cent. instead of 5 percent.. the number of small stags, no doubt, would have been reduced, but the genuine small investor would have had a much better chance of obtaining the Loan.
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