ABSTRACT
In 1929, matters were brought to a head in two crashes they are the first in the spring, which saw the failure of many companies floated in 1928, and the second in September, precipitated by the collapse of Clarence Hatry's companies. From the Exchange's point of view, there was a potentially serious embarrassment for there must have been a suspicion that it had itself contributed to the financial consequences of the crashes. In Blue Bird's case, if an offer of shares was not fully subscribed, one of the existing Blue Bird companies would buy the remainder of the shares to create the impression that the issue had been fully subscribed. In some of the cases, preliminary expenses represented a substantial proportion of the subscribed capital: the highest being Universal Refrigerators Limited whose preliminary expenses represented 43.9% of subscribed capital.
