The nominal total of Argentine securities quoted on the Paris Bourse amounted, on the 31st of December 1907,
to the value of £78,999,308, which sum may be analysed as follows:—
| State funds | £52,332,306 |
| Banks | 10,335,680 |
| Transport | 12,802,290 |
| Mines | 548,978 |
| Various | 2,980,000 |
| ————— | |
| £78,999,254 | |
| ========= |
To prevent an erroneous interpretation of the above figures, it should be stated that this total does not represent the value of the securities actually held by Frenchmen, but only the securities quoted on the Bourse, which is a very different matter. For example, the French Bank of the Rio de la Plata figures in this total to the extent of £2,400,000, the amount of its capital actually subscribed, although scarcely a quarter of it circulates in France.
On the other hand there is a very considerable quantity of Argentine securities belonging to capitalists or investors living in France; securities which are not quoted on the Bourse and are not deposited in any bank. We may cite as an example the last loan of £10,000,000, issued under the title of “Internal Argentine Credit 1909.” Of this amount £3,400,000 was subscribed in France, yet the bonds of this loan, on account of a difference with the French Government, have not yet been quoted on the Paris Bourse.
We are thus justified in concluding that the amount we have given as representing the value of the stock held by Frenchmen—£78,998,854—is approximately correct; and that the two factors which affect the matter in opposite senses may be taken to cancel one another.
We must also note the fact that the majority of Government funds find as large a market in London as in Paris. For example, the 4 per cent. loan of 1897-1900, which was entirely issued in London, was only admitted to quotation on the Bankers’ Exchange of Paris in 1903.
In the banking department, the shares of the Spanish Bank of the Rio de la Plata and the French Bank of La Plata were only introduced to the Paris Bourse at the beginning of 1908; the principal market for these shares is still at Buenos Ayres.
In the transport department, the General Company of
the Tramways of Buenos Ayres, which has a capital of £1,800,000, can only be represented in France by a very small proportion of this capital; the shares have been issued principally in Brussels, London and Berlin.