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Management Redundancy Since the enactment of the Industrial Relations Act 1971, many trade union leaders have been heard lamenting its alleged unfairness and the supposed ineptitude of its special creation, the National Industrial Relations Court. However, whatever the rights and wrongs of this admittedly controversial piece of legislation, credit should be given for some of the less publicised aspects which have brought widely acceptable reforms into some of the greyer areas of conflict between employers and employees.

Non‐Voting Shares The non‐voting share has for some years been a target for the wrath of financial journalists and other commentators and it again became a live issue during the recent dispute involving shareholders and the directors of Savoy Hotel Ltd.

With growing redundancies and short‐time working in many sectors of British industry, the struggle to survive—and in some cases, to avoid Government intervention—has centred around the problem of cash flow. Maintaining liquidity has become the major task on hand—although few would admit to being in difficulty. To do so would be to invite creditors to press their claims even harder at a time when payment terms are being extended to their limit. Putting on an act is all part of the gamesmanship of cash management.

Rolls Royce Although many people feared that the decision to place the Rolls Royce company in the hands of a Receiver when it ran out of funds in February 1971 meant that its world‐famous name would disappear from the indus‐trial scene, the major rescue operation that was mounted by the Receiver and the Government, with considerable assistance from the American Government and the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, managed to avert some of the worst potential consequences of the collapse.

The stock market revival that began in the early weeks of 1975 and carried the Financial Times Industrial Ordinary Share Index from its lowest point for many years back to a level of comparative respectability provided many companies with the opportunity they were looking for to fund some of their borrowings or to provide new investment capital by making rights issues of ordinary shares.

Price/Earnings Ratios When the United Kingdom changed from a two‐tier system of company taxation (Income Tax and Profits Tax) to a single‐tier Corporation Tax in 1965, the investment community simultaneously adopted the American‐style price/earnings ratio as the standard yardstick for measuring the relative values of share prices.

THE COMPANIES BILL The tangled affairs of some of the insurance companies involved in the recent crop of failures, with the consequent problems for policyholders who suddenly find themselves without even the minimum legal requirement of third party cover, have served to emphasise the need for a drastic overhaul of the legislation which governs their methods of operation.

The Stock Exchange The Council of the Stock Exchange announced its intention to appoint its first chief executive in October 1973 but it was not until twelve months later that it was able to name the man who was to be appointed to the post. The successful candidate was Mr. Robert Fell, who came to his new job after a Civil Service career that took him to the position of chief executive of the Export Credits Guarantee Department.

During the past year or two the City has had to face criticism that the private financial sector has failed in its proclaimed purpose of providing industry with the funds it needs for expansion and investment in new plant and equipment. To the extent that business can only flourish in a secure and confident economic environment—and it is the Government that it looks to for creating that environment—it may feel that it is being blamed for the sins and omissions of others.

Union Membership for Professional Employees Although Mr. Bumble (Oliver Twist) may have been right when he said that the law is an ass, a recent decision by the Lords of Appeal (see also this feature, Winter 1971 issue) has demonstrated that the judiciary is well able to exhibit a fine disregard for precedents when to follow them might well result in a denial of natural justice.