X now consolidated in
China
Part II of the
Muic, '4925.
made enabling China companies to keep branch
registers outside Hong Kong or China in places
where they carry on no business at all, simply as
a means of introducing their shares on the markets
of such places, particularly London. They cite
in favour of this the precedent of the Straits
Ordinance No. 155, Section 37 of which enables
a
the branch register to be kept in the United
Kingdom, or in any Colony other than the Straits,
without any restriction as to the company
transacting business in the place where the
branch register is kept.
Before answering the Foreign Office, I
think we should first -
(1) Look up the history of the Straits
legislation which is now contained in
Section 37 of Ordinance 155.
(2) Then refer the question to the Board
of Trade as the proposal is mainly one for
opening branch registers in London.
I may add that the Board of Trade
collaborated with the Foreign Office and Colonial
Office in the scheme resulting in the China
X
Companies Orders in Council, etc., and this
t
present question clearly concerns the Board of
Trade more than either the Foreign Office or
ourselves.
JS.R.
31.10.28.
Section 37 of Straits Ordinance 155
was introduced by Ordinance 13 of 1923 (see
the
4