unsecured creditors amounted to $29,442 and $271,395 respectively, making a total of $300,837. Expenses of administration of bankrupt estates absorbed $249,513. At the end of the year the assets held by the Official Receiver on account of bankruptcies totalled $12,193,433 including $9,438,000 borrowed for the Ming Tak Bank from the Government, $1,988,629 held in respect of undistributed assets of bankrupt estates, and $106,106 in respect of unclaimed dividends.
Companies Liquidation Account
130. The receipts and payments for the year and the assets and liabilities as at 31st March 1969 are set out in Table XXVIII. This Table does not include, except for certain administrative expenses, details of The Canton Trust and Commercial Bank, Limited, for which a separate account is kept (Table XXVI). Assets of companies in compulsory liquidation produced $1,117,458, and payments to pref- erential creditors and dividends to unsecured creditors amounted to $290,982 and $63,375 respectively. Interest on investments and bank interest totalled $139,994, of which $113,092 was transferred to General Revenue in accordance with Section 294(3) of the Companies Ordin- ance. Expenses of administration amounted to $100,033, of which $10,648 was attributable to The Canton Trust and Commercial Bank, Limited. Accountants' fees of $252,200 and auditors' fees of $93,000 for 2 years in the same case were covered by a transfer from the Companies Liquidation (C.T.) Account. The assets held at the end of the year totalled $3,243,624, excluding $8,259,670 in the Canton Trust liquidation.
131. Section 285 of the Companies Ordinance provides that if, where a company is being wound up, a liquidator has in his hands or under his control any money representing unclaimed or undistributed assets of the company which have remained unclaimed or undistributed for six months after the date of their receipt, the liquidator shall forth- with pay the money into the Companies Liquidation Account. Sums totalling $31,249 were received from liquidators in voluntary liquida- tions in respect of undistributed or unclaimed assets, and sums totalling $1,449 were returned to liquidators or paid to creditors and shareholders who established their right thereto. At the end of the year unclaimed dividends and returns of capital amounting to $305,043 in respect of voluntary liquidations and $27,227 in respect of compulsory liquidations were still held in the Companies Liquidation Account.
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