in, under constantly changing circumstances,
the number of transactions, and the amount
of money changing hands, involve intricate
accounts and arrangements, which need not be
particularised here. Accounts are settled fort-
nightly, the precise dates being fixed some time
before by the Committee of the house.

Many speculators, however, especially those
who have bought stocks and shares with the
expectation that they will speedily rise in price,
do not find it convenient to pay the purchase-
money on the appointed settling day; so pay-
ment may, by arrangement, be carried over to
the next settling day. For the accommodation
a certain charge, which is called "contango,"
is made, the amount varying with the value of
money and the quality of the stock. "Back-
wardation," on the other hand, is a commission
paid in order to postpone the delivery of stocks
or shares which a speculator contracts to sell,
but which he never possessed. He is a specu-
lator for the fall, hoping by the delay to be able
to purchase the same stocks and shares at a less
price than he bargained to sell them for, and so
make a profit out of the transaction. Specu-
lations for a rise are known on the Stock
Exchange as "Bulls," and their object is by
every manner of means to get the prices of the
stocks they are dealing in pushed up as much