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As you know, we are of the opinion that it is prejudicial
to our interests in certain circumstances to prefix the words
"English Company" to our name. There is a strong nationalistic
and anti foreign sentiment abroad, and whilst this exists we do
not think it advisable to advertise our nationality to the
purchasing public. This becomes of the utmost importance in
times of boycott when there is a definite organised movement
against foreign goods. In such times our position is weakened
considerably by being compelled by our own law to state on our
advertisements, showcards, etc. that we are British. It is
true that the organisers of boycotts are always aware of our
British nationality and will take care to draw prospective
purchasers' attention to that fact, but there would seem to
be no adequate reason why we should be compelled to facilitate
the organisers' task by using the prefix prescribed by section
93 (2).
Having come to the conclusion that in our particular case
we did not wish to be compelled to use the prefix, we decided
to make an application to the Minister for a licence of
exemption and our representative had a preliminary talk with
the Minister on the subject. The Minister referred the matter
to the Registrar of Companies.
that if there was a case for granting us a licence, there was
no reason why every other applicant should not be granted a
licence also. He expressed the view that, on the face of it,
there was a case for a change in the law by deleting from
section 93 (2) the words in brackets "and, if a China Company,
shall also prefix there to the Chinese characters (
)'
The Registrar was of the opinion
and he suggested that other representative opinions should be
obtained and the Chamber of Commerce consulted in case there
should be any sound commercial reason why the change should
not be made.
It will be noticed that the sub-section is complete without
the above-mentioned words in brackets, and that those words were
clearly