natural  course  of  price-movements,  but  as  will
be  seen  from  the  following  chart  the  Ordinary
stock  of  the  Metropolitan  District  Railway
Company  did  not  follow  the  prevailing  movement ­
  :—

The  reason  for  this  quite  exceptional
course  of  prices  in  the  case  of  the  Metropolitan
District  Ordinary  stock  was  that  a  certain
well-known  syndicate  of  financiers  had  determined, ­
  first  to  obtain  control  of  the  line  by
buying  up  a  sufficient  quantity  of  stock  to
secure  the  majority  of  voting-power,  and  then
to  electrify  the  railway.  The  syndicate,  in  fact,
prevented  the  natural  movement  of  the  stock
by  locking  up  large  blocks  of  it,  and  so
temporarily  removing  it  from  the  influence  of

112

(The  top  figure  indicates  the
average  price,  the  bottom  figure
the  year  in  which  it  ruled).

109  /
1  896/

105  _
1895.

1899

CO

1900  1901

METROPOLITAN  DISTRICT  RLY.
ORD.  STOCK

1903  88
1904