The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

His announcement was made dur-- Ing a long debate, described several times by speakers as the "most fruit-- ful and important" of the current session and in which Conservative Leader Drow sharply attacked the system of raising a Government "protective umbrella" over the in-- vestor. Intensive study of the Securities Act, with a view to bringing down legislation at the next session if further amendments seemed desir-- able will be made during the recess, Hon. Gordon Conant announced yesterday in the Legislature, when the House gave second reading to a revision in the act. As against a paternal system, Colonel Drew argued that the pub-- lic's best security against fraud lay in the public's ability to protect it-- self under provisions which assured penalties for fraudulent acts in the sale or transfer of securities. Securities Act Change At Next Session Hinted As Conant Plans Study Colonel Drew, the first commis-- sioner after the Securities Commis-- sion was set up in 1931, abandoned a provision which required the escrow of vendors' stock. In explanation of that move, he asserted that the provision gave to the public a sense of false security, in that there was nothing to prevent the sale of the ownership of stock thus held. The current Securities Act amend-- ment allows any syndicate agree-- ment, in which the capital does not exceed $10,000, to be filed in the of-- fice of the Provincial Secretary or any mining recorder,. It also pro-- vides that the securities of such a syndicate may be sold without any registration with the Securities Commission. The measure is de-- signed to aid and to stimulate pros-- pecting. He charged that the prospectus issued by Major James Hahn, in transactions leading to the forma-- tion of the John Inglis Co., Ltd., "was one of the most fraudulent which has been issued in the Prov-- ince, and the sale was permitted by the Securities Commissioner be-- cause, under the provisions for the escrow of stock, he evidently as-- sumed that the public was protected because the watered stock was held in escrow." Discussion on bill opened with A. W. Roebuck, K.C., Liberal mem-- ber for Toronto--Bellwoods, urging that prospectors be relieved of some of their assessment burdens, and that the $2 per acre tax on property holdings be increased. One company, he claimed, has more than 100,000 acres under its control, on which it paid the five cents levy. Mines Minister Leduc asserted there was no demand for removal of assessment work, and that he was not prepared to increase the acreage tax. He stressed that since coming into office, the Government had "thrown open to the public hun-- dreds of thousands of acres which had been in tax arrears." Colonel Drew said it was his understanding that the mining in-- dustry was satisfied on the whole SEES BUYER GIVEN FALSE SAFETY SENSE Promises Intensive Examination of Law, During Recess, in Course of 'Most Important' Debate: Drew Attacks 'Protective' Scheme FEBRVAR yY with provisions of the Mining Act. He was, he said, critical of the re-- strictions in the Securities Act, from experience gained in the office of Securities Commissioner. He be-- lieved that with the best of inten-- tions Ontario had adopted some of the United States' securities "blue sky laws." In declaring his faith in the prin-- ciple "let the buyer beware," he said that any attempt to put a pro-- tective umbrella over the investor only made him soft and unable to make his own decisions, with the result that he was ever open to the advances of promoters. "'The best protection that can ever be made is to make the inves-- tor careful," said Colonel Drew. "In-- dividuals who .earn caution them-- selves are better protected than by any Government measure." He stressed at the same time it was essential to regulate the broker and the stock salesman. But he was insistent that the Securities ; Act or some other act be re-dratted' so that, while it recognized the ; principle "let the buyer beware" it would compel the vendor of securities to give a clear explana-- tion of what he is selling. It should, he said, provide a simple procedure whereby in the event of fraud aris-- ing from false or inadequate state-- ments the offender could be brought to justice. He suggested that there should be a conference of all those inter-- ested, both mining men and brok-- ers. Mr. Conant said he was in sympathy with the suggestion, that he retained an open mind on the subject and that he had given long hours to the problem. "But I am not so sure that the principle, 'let the buyer beware, applies here. 1 can, for example, tell a lot more about a horse than I can about a stock certificate," he said. He pointed out that the Securities Commission was confronted with the difficulty of reconciling the min-- ing industry and its proper develop-- ment with the interests of the in-- vesting public. "There is always the question of whether we should, as it were, leave the sheep to be shorn rather than impose further restrictions," said Mr. Conant. To do what the Leader of the Op-- position suggested might tend to destroy the market for mining se-- curities and build up an unfavor-- able attitude in the minds of the investing public that would do the mining industry harm, the Attorney-- General continued. The analogy drawn by the Leader of the Op-- position between a person buying a home and a person buying stock was not a particularly good ons, Mr. Conant declared, There was a great deal of difference in the two transactions. _A person could see what he was buying when ho went to purchase a house, but the pur-- chase of stock was a different mat-- ter, he said.