the Stock Exchange Official Intelligence. It is not, of course, intended as a complete guide to trustees, who will always be well advised to invest, as such, only with the assistance of legal instruction. The Trustee Act of 1925 has consolidated previous legislation on the subject, but as far as a layman can understand its meaning, has made only two important alterations. It has restricted investments in Indian loans and guarantees to those that have interest payable in sterling and it has permitted investments in (otherwise suitable) bearer securities as long as they are deposited for safe custody and collection in the hands of a banker. Changes made with regard to investments in real property do not concern us here.
The principles on which the securities permitted as investments to trustees were selected under the Act of 1893 are evident and reasonable. They aimed at including debts of the British Government or of bodies which were subject to its control or at least could be watched by it at close quarters. Even so, the inclusion of the ordinary stocks of the Banks of England and Ireland was a curious anomaly, since one would have expected that Parliament would have aimed above all at securing a certain income for beneficiaries
