British and Mercantile, to a noticeable extent. The total reductions were £232,000, and the net gains rather over 1¼ million. Telegraphs and Telephones, which now represent over 30 millions sterling of paid-up capital and forty-nine distinct securities, gained last year on twenty-two of these £8000, and lost on nineteen of them nearly 2 millions sterling. Mines were an exemplary market. Speculation having betaken itself apparently to other quarters, South Caradons, Devon, Great Consols, and Wheal Bassetts are hardly ever heard of now in Capel Court. In the new official list, which was revised at the beginning of 1884, many of the smaller mining gambles were weeded out. Now only eleven British mines remain, and last year they depreciated to the extent of nearly a quarter of a million sterling. The colonial and foreign mines were also pruned, most of the moribund Indian gold ventures having been dropped out as games no longer worth the candle. The twenty-three companies thus shelved represented an aggregate capital of 3½ millions sterling, and the depreciation on the fifty-four companies left in amounted to another 5 millions. Rio Tinto alone accounts for over 2 millions of this decline, Mason & Barry for nearly one million, and Tharsis for about three-quarters of a million. The shares of the Spanish copper mines thus lost in market value not far from 4 millions sterling in a single year. The last of the retrograde securities are waterworks stocks, which have had the heavy shadow of Sir William Harcourt pressing on them. Ten of the leading stocks were lower on the year by nearly £700,000, and five were higher by £140,000, making the net loss considerably over half a million.
Thus in seventeen of the twenty-four principal divisions of London stocks, we have found losses on balance ranging from a quarter million to 50 millions sterling, and amounting altogether to about 108 millions. The departments which showed a balance of gain are much easier described. At the head of them are Foreign Stocks, which had an exceptionally firm year. Three or four of the leading classes had a substantial advance. Russians, for instance, were between 9 and 10 millions sterling better on the year; Spanish were fully 6 millions ahead of 1883; Italians 1¾ million up; Egyptians fully half a million; and even Turks come out with flying colours on the right side. Out of a hundred and thirteen stocks, fifty-five appear to have been gainers, and only twenty-five losers – the balance of appreciation being over 16 milions sterling, It is a rather ominous sign of the times that the only securities which maintain their value among us are foreign stocks, and, of all stocks in the world – Russians, Spanish, and Turks! The only home securities in this category are Corporation stocks, Gas shares, which were better all round, Canals and Docks, and Tramways. In the Gas department, thirty-seven out of fifty-nine stocks improved, and only two were lower, the balance of gain having been fully 2¾ millions sterling. What a moral for the Electric Light Companies, whose own shares have shrivelled up into decimal fractions! Of thirty-five Canal and Dock Companies, ten rose during the year by nearly 2 millions, and seven were reduced by about £425,000, making a net gain of 1½ million sterling. Only seven of the twenty-four leading markets
