C.O. 53 [C. No. 9.]
It is requested that any reply to this Letter may be addressed to the Comptroller of the Companies Department, 8, Delahay Street, Westminster, London, S.W., (Telegraphic Address: "Companies London,") and that the following number may be quoted:-- 168. 8668
In 10 MAR 08
BOARD OF TRADE 9th March, 1908.
Goo 1189 07.8
Sir,
I am directed by the Board of Trade to refer to Mr. Antrobus' letter of 27th January last, in which the observations of the Board of Trade are asked for on the Ordinance of Hong Kong No. 16 of 1907.
In reply, I am to say, with reference to the annual licence duty at the rate of four cents for every hundred dollars paid-up capital of the company to which the licence is issued, that it would seem right, as a matter of logical fairness, that this annual duty should only be chargeable on the amount of shares in the local registry and not on the total amount of a company's nominal capital. The amount of the shares in the local registry is easily ascertainable, for, under section 4 (6) of the Ordinance, the shares registered in a local register are to be distinguished from the shares registered in the principal register.
I am, further, to point out that section 4 (8) (a), which closely follows the wording of section 3 (7) (a) of the British Act of 1883, departs from the original in a material particular. The British section provides that a transfer of a share registered in a Colonial register shall...