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Report on an Ordinance entitled
An Ordinance to amend the Alien Enemies (Winding up }
Ordinance, 1914, and to provide for the protection of
public officers in certain cases.
The object of a large portion of this ordinance is
to fill up oertain lacunaein the provisions of the Prin- cipal Ordinance in order to carry out its spirit and general intention, and to make the law clearer on cer- tain points on which the construction of the Principal Ordinance might possibly give rise to some question.
As it was feared that in some cases the assets re- maining after the payment of secured creditors would not be sufficient for the payment of the liquidators' ex- penses and remuneration, the local banks were approached to know whether they would agree to contribution by the secured creditors in such cases towards the liquidators expenses and remuneration. The local banks agreed to the proposal, and at the suggestion of the Government the
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation telegraphed to their London office to make a similar enquiry from the various banks and financial houses in England interested in the Hongkong trade. It was understood that all the replies received vere favourable. The Ordinance ac-
the liqui-
cordingly provides that in case of insolvency datore expenses and remuneration shall have priority over all other payments, including those to secured creditors, and that secured creditors shall be liable to contribute to such remuneration in proportion to the value of their securities,
Power is given to the Governor to award a higher remuneration in any special case where the usual remuneration
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of 24% shall appear to him inadequate, but as this point
was raised too late for enquiries to be made of the banks
and financial houses in London, a proviso has been added
that this provision shall not affect secured creditors.
In view of the special scale of priority laid down in
the Principal Ordinance and in this ordinance, it has been
thought desirable to expressly exclude the operation of the
Bankruptcy Ordinance.
Provision is made for the auditing of liquidators' ac-
counts.
Provision is also made for the protection of public
officers in respect of directions or permissions bona fide
given or refused in execution or intended execution of the
Principal Ordinance or of this Ordinance.
All the amendments are made retrospectively.
Section 1 is formal.
Section 2 expands the definition of "alien enemy" in
accordance with the general intention on the Principal Ordi
nance.
Section 3 makes a slight change in the mode of communica-
tion of the Governor's permission as the great presaure of work and the urgency of many questions during the first few days after the passing of the Principal Ordinance made it impossible that the Governor's permission should be given in all cases in writing under the hand of the Colonial Sec- retary. The section also expressly provides that no per-
son shall without permission pay any money to an alien enemy or deal with any property for the benefit of an alien
enemy
It is probable that this provision was not strictly necessary but it draws attention to the point and makes the liability quite clear.
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