Foremost amongst the publications which emanate from the Stock Exchange, and there are a good many, is, of course, "The Stock Exchange Daily Official List." Its main purpose is to supply the outside world with an official record of the prices of securities. It is compiled under the authority of the Committee and the superintendence of the Secretary of the Share and Loan Department, and published by the Trustees and Managers. The Committee is thus the editor of the List, and is responsible for the accuracy of the prices and other particulars which it collects and sets forth. The List is an imposing publication of sixteen closely printed pages, and contains the names of over four thousand securities. It is issued at about 5 o'clock each evening (about 2 o'clock on Saturdays) and gives the prices at 3.30 (1 o'clock on Saturdays). The annual subscription for the List is £4, exclusive of postage, and single copies cost sixpence each. Long before the time of publication, every day there may be seen outside the offices a motley queue of commissionaires, clerks, and office-boys waiting for the copies as they are delivered from the press.
The securities quoted in the List may be described as favoured securities, for it is the ambition of every company to obtain an official quotation for its stocks and shares. Every week there is published by the Committee a list of those securities for which quotation is sought, and another list of those in the case of which the application has been granted. The Committee is never tired of asseverating that when it grants quotation in the Official List to any security it does not thereby imply that that security is of superior status to other stocks and shares which are not so quoted; but the fact remains that official quotation does, undoubtedly, endow a security with a certain prestige. There is always some kind of market in securities quoted, and it is more easy to borrow upon them at the banks; whereas it is impossible to buy or sell many securities not quoted without long negotiation, and some of them may not be recognised by anybody except the promoters who have issued them.
Before a security can obtain quotation in the Official List, it has to possess certain characteristics, and its sponsors have to conform to certain formalities. The idea of quotation is not to enable those interested in the loan or company to sell the securities; quotation is for the benefit of the public; indeed, before quotation is granted, at least two-thirds of the securities issued must have been allotted to the public as distinct from vendors and others. The formalities to be observed resemble in many respects those imposed in the case of the granting of a special settlement. The loan or company has to be of sufficient magnitude and importance. Such documents as the prospectus, which must have been publicly advertised, the articles of association, which are the rules of the company, the allotment book, showing the extent to which the securities have been publicly issued, the banker's pass-book, certified copies of contracts and concessions, have all to be deposited. It has to be stated that the certificates or bonds are ready for delivery, and that the purchase of the properties has been completed. These are roughly the requirements, and a broker has to be appointed in connection with the loan or company authorised and ready to give full information in answer to the inquiries of the Committee.