7
Speech by Mr G.A. Higginson, Secretary for Economic Services, in the Legislative Council
on 15 May 1985
Companies (Amendment) Bill 1985
Sir,
I move that the Companies (Amendment) Bill 1985
be read the second time.
2.
In his Budget Speech for the current financial
year, the Financial Secretary announced the Government's
intention to raise the fees and charges payable to the
Registrar General's Department. A full review of these
fees and charges has now been completed. The purpose of
the amendments proposed in this Bill is to increase
certain of the fees and charges payable to the Registrar
General under the Companies Ordinance and to simplify and
improve winding-up procedures.
3.
A large burden of the work under the Companies
Ordinance falls on the Official Receiver, and the workload
of his office has increased significantly during the last
five years.
An increasing number of insolvencies does not
necessarily mean an increase in bad business, but is an
indicator of more business. Measures to increase the
productivity of the Official Receiver's Office are
therefore timely.
In formulating the present proposals,