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2. Before forming any opinion of his own on the subject His Excellency wishes to place before the Chamber of Commerce for any observations that it may think proper to make the objections recorded in 1875 by the local Government to such an Ordinance. Their objections are set forth in the following minute of Mr. Administrator Austin.
The Honourable
W. KESWICK,
Se..
&r.
Appendix L.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
C. MAY, Acting Colonial Secretary.
Petition presented by Chinese Merchants, 30th June, 1882.
*
Leung On and others, Chinese merchants in Hongkong, present a Petition praying that, in the interests of traders, stringent measures may be adopted in order to put a stop to the using of false names in partner- ships a practice which is injurious to trade. Petitioners beg to submit that there are many firms and shops in Hongkong which use fancy or false names in carrying on a partnership business. A wealthy merchant, as a precaution against being involved by others, whilst using the names of his kinsmen in a partnership agreement when registering, will openly declare to all his fellow merchants that he himself is master of the shop, so as to inspire their credit. If the business becomes insolvent the law cannot reach him becau50 only the partnership agreement and the registration certificate (which do not contain his name) can be u od as evidence. There are even some cases in which a person, previous to the bankruptcy, contrive to get out of the partnership by substituting the name of another for his own, so that no enquiries can be made about him. There are hundreds of ways in which the crafty makes a loophole of escape for himself. Hence the frequent recurrence of bankruptcy, the cause of which is no doubt due to the evil practices mentioned. This state of things has a deleterious effect on trade, the recent gradual decline of which may also be attributed to the same cause. There are numerous instances in which business men become victims of this kind of fraud, as a consequence of which they have lost all their capital. In such trying circum- stances Petitioners felt it their duty to endeavour to save the people from their embarrassment. They, therefore, having carefully considered the matter, came to the conclusion that only one course was open to them, and that was to draw up and present a joint Petition praying that steps might be taken to suppress these evil practices, in order to arrest the decay of trade. Petitioners submit that though the law may require the registration of all firms and shops for the purposes of inquiry and search, such registration can senrcely be regarded as reliable, as it is a common practice to give false names. Petitioners therefore
venture to request that the Registration Department may be directed to issue a notice requiring within a certain date the true names of masters of all shops and firms to be sent in, so that they may be compared with the names in the registers, which may then be corrected; and that if in future any person, on starting a new business, use a false name when registering, he shall be at once fiued, so that the posple may be taught to keep the law and be afraid to break it. Such a perpetual prohibition against fraud will be a benefit to trade and will save substantial and wealthy Europeans and Chinese from being implicated by others in cases of insolvency. If, in their commercial dealings, the masters of one firm or r-shop de re to ascertain the true names of the partners of another firm or shop, they should be permitted to make serrches in the registers on payment of a fee, such fee to be paid to Government for the trouble taken in the retch. Confidence having been thus established, trade will be carried on in a satisfactory manner, and wherler a business prospers or fails, each partner will share in such prosperity or failure as the case may be.
Petitioners accordingly repair to the presence of your Worship and beg that you will submait their petition to His Excellency the Governor who may be graciously pleased to grant its prayer.
Petitioners beg to offer the following eight suggestions for your perusal and pray that such as are practical may be selected and put in force.
1. In China true names are invariably used in partnership agreement because according to Chinese law and custom if a business fails, the partners are liable only to the extent of the amount of their shares in such business. As a consequence of this false names are never used. In Hongkong if a firm becomes bankrupt, the law requires the wealthier of the partners to meet the debts not only on their own account bat also on account of the rest of the shareholders, entirely regardless of the extent of their shares in the basi- Therefore, to avoid being involved, many have recourse to the use of fancy name or names of their kinsmen in partnership agreements. If it be desired that the true names of partners are to be reported,
ness.
racters,
* Note. -Literally family hall name" described by Giles as follows: a fancy name usually consisting of two cha-