[Editor: This article, regarding Australian investors apparently swindled by some shady American businessmen (or con men), was included in “A Woman’s Column” (edited by Mary Gilmore), published in The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 2 January 1908.]
“Where’s our scrip?”
Gullible Australian investors.
About 14 months ago a firm of American company-promoters visited Sydney for the purpose of disposing of 15,000 shares in the “Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, of Canada, Limited.” They opened offices in Sydney and Melbourne, and extensively advertised the venture.
The whole of the 15,000 shares were quickly bought up at 25s per share, although the names of the president, directors, etc., of the company, which was said to have a capital of £5,000,000, were not mentioned.
The shareholders were handed provisional certificates, and promised their scrip in about 60 days. The prompters then vanished. The scrip was due, at latest, about November 28, 1906, but none arrived until January 7, 1907, and then only sufficient to cover 375 of the 8040 shares purchased by Sydney investors.
The next lot of scrip arrived the middle of June, 1907, for 200 shares. It has, therefore, taken over one year to deliver the scrip for 883 shades, on which average it will take nine years to complete delivery. Melbourne purchasers have received no scrip at all.
The local bank which holds the list of shares, and which is by right the legitimate and only source for certificate holders to draw information from, has received no information whatever.
Persons who have put their money into the scheme are now howling loud, and anxiously, but they can expect little sympathy for their foolish casualness in parting with their money to utter strangers without inquiry or receiving adequate security.
It should act as a warning to those Australians who are always ready to spend their money on imported articles, whether they be shoddy goods, adulterated foodstuffs, or bogus company promoters.
Source:
The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 2 January 1908, p. 15
Editor’s notes:
s = a reference to a shilling, or shillings; the “s” was an abbreviation of “solidi”, e.g. as used in “L.S.D.” or “£sd” (pounds, shillings, and pence), which refers to coins used by the Romans, as per the Latin words “librae” (or “libra”), “solidi” (singular “solidus”), and “denarii” (singular “denarius”)
scrip = an alternative or a substitute for legal tender; a certificate of money invested in or subscribed to a bank or company, which usually entitles the bearer or a named person to receive dividends (such as a certificate for shares in a company, or for government-issued bonds); an issue of additional, bonus, or spin-off shares to existing shareholders; certificates, coupons, or tokens issued by a business, company, or organisation, which can be turned in or exchanged for goods or services from the issuing entity (this includes gift cards, which are a modern form of scrip); a certificate of debt, issued by a government, to be used as a form of currency during a financial emergency; a small scrap of material, usually paper, especially a written document)
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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