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From The Minister of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
7
17 March 1989
Dear Charles,
HKC 102/3
Pan
Miss Merosen Mr
W 2013
Thank you for your letter of 28 February with which you enclosed a letter from a Solicitor in your constituency, Mr T S H Burns of T S H Burns and Son, PO Box No.1, Park Street, Dingwall, Ross-shire, on behalf of one of his clients, Mrs Sandra South, about delays involved in the transfer of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank shares to the UK.
This is a matter for the Registrar of the Supreme Court in Hong Kong. But, to be as helpful as we can, we have made enquiries of the Registrar. He has replied as follows:-
"Miss A G Cross, deceased.
The records in my Probate Registry have been
examined from 1 January 1987 onwards and we can find no trace of an application for resealing of a confirmation or for probate in respect of the above deceased.
The 'mechanism' described in paragraph 2 of the letter from Burns and Son is the procedure prescribed in the Probate and Administration Ordinance, Chapter 10 of the Laws of Hong Kong, Part IV, sections 48 to 52. These provisions are mirrored in every Commonwealth country and provide for the reciprocal administration of estates in Commonwealth countries. The application of the provisions of Part IV is a matter of routine in Hong Kong and despatched expeditiously unless there is some flaw in the application papers.
I repeat that in the instant case I am not in a position to comment since I have received no application."
Charles Kennedy, Esq, MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A OAA