26

The  reason  of  this  seemingly  contradictory
movement  was  that  the  Taff  Vale  Railway
Ordinary  stock,  being  a  British  security  whose
market  is  entirely  in  this  country,  was  more
dependent  for  its  price  fluctuations  on  the
trading  and  financial  conditions  of  Great
Britain,  and  their  effect  on  the  London  Stock
Exchange,  than  it  was  on  its  own  merits.
The  price  of  Taff  Vale  stock  did  not  therefore ­
  improve  with  its  improving  yield  and  its
enhanced  capital  safety,  hut  simply  followed  in
*  the  wake  of  the  general  investment  conditions
obtaining  on  the  British  Stock.  Exchanges.
This  example  is  not  an  isolated  one,  and
similar  cases  occur  by  no  means  infrequently.
Thus,  Lancashire  &  Yorkshire  Railway
Ordinary  stock  sold  in  1904  as  high  as
111  ;  early  in  1907  its  price  was  101,  yet
the  dividends  paid  on  this  stock  were  as
follows  :  1904,  3f  per  cent.  ;  1905,  3}  per
cent.  ;  1906,  4f  per  cent.  Again,  South
Eastern  Railway  Preferred  Ordinary  stock
received  the  following  dividends  :  1904,  4£
per  cent.  ;  1905,  5  per  cent.  ;  1906,  5¿  per
cent.  ;  whilst  in  1904  the  stock  sold  at  135
and  early  in  1907  at  115.  A  large  number
of  equally  striking  examples  could  be  qtioted.
So  as  to  make  it  additionally  clear  that  it
is  the  Market  Influence  which  mainly  controls