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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
minded', and the numbers of registrations of companies owned by Chinese have been increasing greatly. Nowadays, most new enterprises of any magnitude are launched as limited companies. This is especially true of the building industry where it has become virtually the standard practice to form a new company for each new building venture. Because of the continued building boom and generally active business conditions there was for the fourth year running a sharp rise in the number of company registrations to the new record total of 1,070. The nominal capitals of the new companies registered during 1962 totalled $782,609,250, an increase of 20.8 per cent over the corresponding figure for 1961. Of the new companies, 28 had a nominal share capital of $5 million or over. At the end of the year there were 5,925 local companies on the register.
Companies incorporated outside the Colony are required to register certain documents with the Companies Registry within one month of establishing a place of business in Hong Kong. Only small filing fees are payable in such cases. During the year 53 foreign companies registered, and 17 ceased to operate. By the end of the year there were 477 foreign companies registered · as compared with 441 in 1961. Usually, for tax reasons, many foreign_companies incorporate subsidiaries in Hong Kong in pre- ference to operating a branch office.
A Companies Law Revision Committee was appointed by the Governor in April with the following terms of reference: "To consider and make recommendations as_to the revision of the company legislation of Hong Kong, and in particular to recom- mend as soon as possible whether legislation for prevention of fraud in relation to investments is required and, if so, the form which it should take.' The committee has invited various bodies and members of the public to submit representations.
Local and foreign insurance companies which wish to transact life, fire and marine insurance business in Hong Kong must comply with the provisions of the Life Insurance and Fire and Marine Insurance Companies Ordinances. In addition to the filing of annual accounts, these ordinances require deposits to be made with the Registrar of Companies unless the company qualifies for exemption by complying with the Insurance Companies Act, 1958, in Great Britain, or in the case of fire and marine insurance-