It is to be hoped that the British government's proposals for dealing with share-Pushers, included in the Prevention of Fraud (investments) Bill which has been read a second time in the House of Commons will not be too seriously mauled when passing, through the commit ice stage, for the measure has been designed with great care with the idea of hampering as little as possible the operations of honest men, while permitting of effective treatment of the rogue. It is some~ thing in the nature of an anti-climax, that in this age it should be necessary for a Govern= ment o act in order to save a fool from his folly, but the success with which share-pushers have fleeced large numbers of the unsuspecting public of huge sums of money clearly proves that such legislation is necessary, That this is so is evidenced from the fact that the notorious Jacob Factor is estimated to have acquired no less a sum than £1,000,000 during eighteen months' activity in England, to have succeeded in escaping to the United les and to have fought off all efforts for his extradition, while during the debate on the second reading, it was alleged that rogues responsible for these get-rich-quick schemes have succeded in defrauding the Britisi public of as much as £5,000,000 in a year. Human nature being what it is, with the desire for easy money, reinforced by an al= most incredible gullibility, it has become necessary for the State to protect these people who fall in hordes before the persuasive tongues of the high-powered salesmen who are used in this racket, Sir Arthur Bodkin's Committee which was appointed to go into the matter in 1936 made as their main recommendations: (1) the registration of all those carrying on business of dealing in stocks and shares: (2) action to prevent cir~ cularization for the purpose of getting people to enter into agreements to buy shares; and (3) amendment of the Larceny Act so as to deal with the definition of false pretences, Registration will precede the issuance of licences by the Board of Trade which will be empowered to establish from time to time regulations, ete., under which such businesses shall be carried on, Thus they will be able to deal with the approach of canvassers to non-clients which is so necessary if the share-pusher is to succeed, and it is hoped that eventually a system will be built up which will not only circumvent these very ingenious gentry but provide for increased punishment should they be so ill-advised as to continue their evil courses, Thus while it may not be possible to prevent all the irregularities to which the Press repeatedly drawn attention, the fact that the penalty for making any false or mislead~ ing statement, promise or forecast will be increased from two to seven. years should have a completely deterrent effect. The Government in drafting the Bill consulted City interests, and the latter were prepared to accept certain inconveniences and some loss of dignity provided that by doing so the practice of share-pushing would be stopped. It is more than a little regrettable that coincident with the introduction of this legislation the Government has not thought fit to embark upon amendment of the libel law. Experience has shown that when newspapers in the course of their work have sought to expose these swindlers, the more daring of them, and those with most money at stake, have' been able to avail themselves of the provisions of the law of libel as they stand at present to prevent a continuance of a newspaper's revelations, by filing an action which they never intended to prosecute. It is to be said for some of the journals engaged
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.