CHAPTER VIII.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE.
THE Stock Exchange is a market for the
sale and purchase of all kinds of securities.
The buildings, wherein business is transacted,
occupy a triangular plot of ground near the
Bank of England, and comprise the Hall where
the various markets are held, and other rooms
and offices for the use of the numerous officials.
There are 2,500 members, and the management
is vested in a Committee selected from their
number. Admission to membership is open to
any person not engaged in another business,
and who is properly proposed and seconded;
but very strict regulations and guarantees are
enforced before entry, so as to exclude any one
whose circumstances and character will not bear
the strictest investigation. The hours of busi-
ness are eleven to four oclock on all days except
Saturday, when they are until two oclock. The
members of the house are divided into Jobbers
and Brokers, the former being dealers in stocks
and shares. It is contrary to practice for
brokers to deal with brokers, and all trans-
actions are between brokers and jobbers.
What are known as “markets” are groups of
jobbers distributed about the house, each group
having its own particular dealings, one in
Government Stocks, another in English rail-
ways, a third in Foreign securities, and so on.
A broker having received an order from a
customer to sell £1,000 Great Eastern Railway
Stock, would go to the English railway group
and inquire of a jobber the price or quotation
for Great Easterns, without disclosing whether
he wants to buy or to sell. The jobber replies,
“115 1/4 to 115 1/2″; whereupon the broker says, “I
sell at 115 1/4,” when the bargain is completed,
without any memorandum or written contract,
the verbal communication being alone in use,
and the jobber is bound by it. It will be
observed that the lower price, 115 1/4, is accepted
by the broker on behalf of his customer, as a sale
is always effected at the lowest quotation, and a
purchase at the highest. Another broker pre-
sently goes to the jobber and asks the same
question receiving the same reply, 115 1/4 to 115 1/2
the broker says, relevant facts about the new certified Accountants. updated last week. “I buy of you at 115 1/2,” being
the highest quotation. The difference of 5s.
between the sale and the purchase is the Job-
bers profit. The broker charges his customer
his own commission or brokerage on the trans-
action, which ranges from 2s. 6d. per cent. on
the Government and Colonial Stocks up to
10s. per cent. on railway stocks. This is the
elementary stage of the business of the Stock
Exchange, but the variety of the securities dealt
in, under constantly changing circumstances,
the number of transactions, and the amount
of money changing hands, involve intricate
accounts and arrangements, which need not be
particularised here. Accounts are settled fort-
nightly, the precise dates being fixed some time
before by the Committee of the house.

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