They were often given a special depth by being engraved and even gold-backed.A stockbroker with the big private client firm of Walker Crips Weddle Beck, Mr Metzger spends much of his time trading in old certificates, or “busted bonds” as they are known.At one time, of course, the more elaborate the certificate the greater the risk an investor was likely to take. “You can’t stop the tide,” said the spokesman.Geoff Metzger, an expert on old certificates, welcomes the Norwich initiative. Once its 200th celebrations are complete a more standard form of certificate is likely to be introduced.Even so, at a time when the stock market is straining to encourage paperless, computerised share settlement with private shareholders being coerced into becoming institutionalised in nominee accounts, the Norwich effort is welcome.But it was anxious to point out it was not making a point against the Crest computerised settlement system. The company took the view that the joint commemoration of its flotation and 200th anniversary deserved something more distinguished than a bog-standard black and white piece of paper with the name Norwich Union stamped on it.Said a spokesman: “There is clearly a little sentimentality behind it; the cost of producing it was marginal.”And Norwich is destined to fall in line with the bland, unappealing certificates which most companies accept in these hi-tech days. Norwich Union, the stock market’s latest blue chip, has struck a blow for shareholders who still like to receive paper share certificates. In an age when most certificates are as dull as ditchwater the insurance giant, which floated two weeks ago, has taken the trouble to produce a rather tastefully designed, picturesque document which is reminiscent of the more collectable bits of paper issued in years gone by.
Against a shades-of-beige background the certificate offers a thumb- print portrait of the founder, one Thomas Bignold, a selection of the group’s trademarks, bits of an old script and a picture of a London-Norwich horse-drawn stage coach.Norwich is not, however, striking a blow for paper settlement and it is unlikely that its artistic inclinations will result in the certificate acquiring a value of its own in the foreseeable future. One of two vote-counting centres had been abandoned by officials of all parties except the Democratic Party, which spoke confidently of the re-election of its candidate, the party chairman Tritan Shehu.The most normal place was the capital, Tirana, where the only upsets were over minor details of voter registration..

“Everything is fine, absolutely fine,” said one returning officer with suspicious insistence in his polling station, a disused funeral parlour.In another polling station, seals were missing from ballot boxes and officials were overheard boasting about how much of the vote each party had been apportioned in advance.In one area of the north-eastern part of the country, the Mat, voting was not possible because ballot papers had not been delivered, while in another, Merdita, voters were kept off the streets by armed gangs controlled by the right-wing Republican Party.Even in more relaxed towns like Kavaja, not all was well. In towns like Lushnja, which saw rabid anti-government rioting earlier this year and a shoot-out at a presidential rally earlier this week, there were whispers in the few bars to stay open that the ruling Democratic Party was intimidating voters and that the result, in some polling stations, had been decided in advance.One man died in a hand-grenade explosion, and there were bursts of Kalashnikov fire throughout the afternoon. Barely a car ventured out on to the roads.Bars and squares were eerily silent. The beaches were deserted, partly because of fears of snipers shooting from smugglers’ boats.

Even the police, which was supposed to be deployed at maximum strength across the country, abandoned checkpoints and vanished entirely from pollings stations and city streets.Despite fears of mass violence, the election itself passed off in most places in an anxious hush, with only sporadic reports of shootings and armed attacks on voters. I have the president to thank for that, because he put me in prison for four years.”The official count has given the Socialists a handful of seats in the south, heartland of months of rebellion against Mr Berisha. The president’s Democratic Party, also quoting its own data, said it had won 17 seats.Earlier in the day as Albania, torn apart by months of political turmoil, economic collapse and gang violence, finally held its much-anticipated emergency elections, the whole country was in a nervous state of limbo. He added: “The only thing Berisha has left is his charisma, but I am more charismatic than he is. “With those figures that are already confirmed and the support that the Albanian people gave the centre-left coalition, this problem is already resolved,” he said.Earlier, Mr Nano had claimed that there were “a lot of rats leaving the sinking ship”. The Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano claimed a sweeping victory in Albania’s general election yesterday and suggested that President Sali Berisha would have to step down. With only a fraction of official results declared it was impossible to forecast the final outcome, but Mr Nano told reporters that his party’s data showed it had won 60 of 115 seats contested under majority voting rules and together with other leftist parties would hold a two-thirds majority in parliament.
“A centre-left coalition will control two-thirds of the new parliament for sure,” Mr Nano said, adding that the Socialists stood to win half of 40 seats being contested under proportional rules.Mr Nano, who was released from prison only three months ago, suggested that the two-thirds majority he expected – which would be sufficient to outvote or even remove Mr Berisha – meant the president should quit.

It followed criticism of the Roman Catholic Church’s missionary work in eastern Europe from the Russian Orthodox and Armenian churches. At the Vatican, the Pope renewed his commitment to the goal of Christian unity but representatives of the Orthodox Church boycotted his Mass marking the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul Reuters – Vienna. to avoid any competitive endeavour by mutual respect of freedom of conscience,” they said after the Second European Ecumenical Conference. “The Governor and his staff and the government and officials of Montserrat have been working around the clock.”. Leaders of Europe’s main Christian religions appealed to each other at the end of a rare inter-denominational conference to stop trying to poach each other’s flocks “It is necessary …

Britain is to make available pounds 6.8m of aid to help the islanders.
George Foulkes, minister at the Department of International Development, said Britain had set up a task force of officials to consider the crisis “as a matter of the utmost urgency”.Governor Frank Savage has said there is no plan for an island-wide evacuation but at least 14 people are still missing and villages remain covered in ash and volcanic material.Lady Symons said Britain was doing its utmost to help. We sincerely hope that those people who are still missing will be found safe and sound,” junior foreign minister Baroness Symons said in a statement. She said she would be visiting the island, a British dependent territory. HMS Liverpool was due to arrive off Montserrat last night and the Black Rover tanker is due today to provide medical help and carry out search and rescue missions. My deepest sympathy goes out to those who have been bereaved by last Wednesday’s eruption, and to the others who have suffered.