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transfers so recorded, and it is estimated that the Treasury loses thereby a sum of at least $10,000 per annum in respect of share transactions in Shanghai alone.
A.
The present Ordinance was drafted in consultation with the local and the Shanghai Chambers of Commerce and other interested parties, and the compromise which it effects is, I think, a reasonable one. The Companies registered locally which operate mainly or exclusively outside Hongkong have a paid-up capital of some $100,000,000, the annual fees on which, if all were to take out local registers, would amount to $40,000. It is not of course possible to foresee at present the extent to which these Companies will avail themselves of the facilities afforded under the new Ordinance, but in any event an adequate return for service rendered will now be assured to this Colony.
A RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF ELGIN, K.G.,
&c. &c. &c.
I have, etc.,
(Signed)
J.D. INGRAM
Governor,
&c. &c.
It