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in o «l reaiiin -- /( -- / Ordinary Law Insufficient 'The Government, he declared, was not unmindful of the interests of the prospector, the man who wants OF BOARD RULE 10 get some "pick and shovel money," and by legislation last year cleared the way for the formation ol mining syndicates for financing |N STOCK CASES prospecting expeditions or for pre-- liminary mining work. "Some people entertain the view that we could get along very well without any blue sky laws. 'Let the Appfove Amendmenf buyer beware' is their attitude. Fey' But J cannot agree that the sale Of SeCUflheS Act to of stock in a company is at all com-- # * parable with the sale of a. commod-- PQ"T\I* DOUb|e ACflOfl ity or chattel," said Mr. Conant. swarcraumcummancuceaeme He claimed also that the ordinary DEFEND OPERAT'ON laws of l.ho land were not sufficient to restrain malefactors. It was not uunanncammngranammcauennascanmmms an offense under the Criminal Code, Appeal legislation drafted into the he said, in example, for a salesman "n+ im w to make statements as to what a Securities Act last night was ;;.\f'n mine is going to do. It becomes Legislature second reading. By the fraud only if present or past con-- amendment an appeal is allowed to ditions are misrepresented. an order of the Securities Commis-- _ Frank Spence (Con., Fort Wil-- »$ Imals liam), in advocating that the Secvuvri-- sioner to a special board of review ties Commission be abolished and and in final settlement to the court the responsibility of regulating min-- of appeals. ing stock sales be left with the "It should not be left to one Minister of Mines, charged the com--| man's decision to take away a man's mission had been "discredited in the | livelihood." said lan Strachan, Lib-- eyes of mining men because of its eral Whip. "I am proud of the At-- superfluous regulations." | torney--General and the Government for going as far as they have done in this legislation." Appeal rights were supported, he said, by L. M. Frost (Con., Vic-- toria) and R. D. Arnott (Con., Hast-- ings) as members of the adminis-- tration of justice probe committee. "It carries out the recommendation of the committee, only it goes fur-- ther by allowing a final appeal to the court of appeals," Mr. Strachan gaid. The maxim "Let the buyer De-- ware" is not a proper precept in mining stock transactions, Attorney-- General Gordon Conant, declared in the Legislature yesterday, as it con-- sidered the second reading of an emendment to the Securities Act. The Securities Commission, Mr. Conant argued, did nothing more than to see "that the investor has a reasonable gamble." But the in-- vestor has not a reasonable gamble 1i a mining claim is transferred to a company for stock, which is sold and the proceeds pocketed by the 4 vendors when at the same time, "little or nothing goes into the treasury of the company." At the present time, regulations have been relaxed to the point where 10 per cent of the vendor's stock is left free, the remaining 90 per cent being held in escrow and released on the basis of one share oi vendor's stock for each share of treasury stock sold. If there were no escrow of ven-- dotr's stock, it would be possible for mining properties to be sold :o a company, the vendor's stock dumped on the market and little or no trea-- sury stock sold, with the result that little or no cash reached the trea-- sury. Despite escrow requirements, * in 1936 and 1937, there were more s than 13,000 mining claims patented, the highest for any year since and > ircluding 1930,