204
LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
a more thorough scrutiny of applications has resulted in more rejections.
There is no original registration of patents in Hong Kong, but patents granted in the UK may be registered under the Registration of United Kingdom Patents Ordinance (Chapter 42). This provides that the grantee of a patent in the UK may apply within five years from the date of the patent to have it registered in Hong Kong, and that such registration shall confer the same rights as though the patent had been issued in the UK with an extension to Hong Kong. During the year 102 such registrations were made.
Bankruptcies and Liquidations. 9 bankruptcy petitions were filed and receiving orders were made in 7 cases, one of which was rescinded subsequently by the Court. The Official Receiver was appointed Trustee in each case where a receiving order was made.
} }
There were 3 petitions for compulsory winding-up_of com- panies, one of which was subsequently withdrawn. The Official Receiver was appointed Liquidator in each of the cases where a winding-up order was made. One of the companies which was ordered to be wound up by the Court was a building development company which had commenced to build a large block of flats on eight floors with shops on the ground floor. This case showed the type of difficulty which may often arise in large building schemes. The development was virtually being carried out by moneys already paid to the Company by about 300 prospective purchasers of flats. The Company stopped work over a year before the winding-up order and the Liquidator inherited a literal skeleton of a building-four walls and a roof. Energetic action by the Official Receiver as Liquidator enabled him to devise a scheme, which was duly approved by the Court, for the clothing of the skeleton. With the assistance of a special manager on the technical building side the Official Receiver arranged to complete the build- ing, adding two extra floors in the process. He also arranged for the provision of the necessary temporary finance and has now collected from the flat purchasers nearly three quarters of the extra $1,000,000 required to finish the project. At the end of the year building work was again well under way and there appears to be every chance that it will be completed by April 1961. The completion of the structure will enable these 300 families of the