303
3.
of Singapore companies is compiled from the record so
kept.
29
6. It will be seen that there are five in all. Two
of these are not Chinese. The Bata Shoe Company Limited
is a Swiss-Czech concern and the Singapore Rubber Works
Limited is Dutch. Of the Chinese companies the Ho Hong
Bank is in liquidation and about to be amalgamated with
the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, and as
for the Eastern Realty Company Limited, 19,994 of its
20,000 shares are owned by the Oversea-Chinese Banking
Corporation Limited. For all practical purposes, there-
fore, Mr. Small's vast mumber of Straits Chinese companies
operating in China is reduced to one. the Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corporation Limited And as regards that one I
would invite Your Excellency's attention to Sir Cecil
Clementi's despatch to the Colonial Office of November
13184/33 13th 1933 (Peking despatch to Shanghai No. 63 of March 9th
1934) reporting that the Bank had been involved in
Chinese political activities objectionable to the
Colonial authorities.
7. I had never previously heard of the Great
Eastern Life Insurance Company Limited, mentioned in the
Singapore despatch, but from enquiries since made in
local insurance circles I gather that it does not do
business in this country. Of course there may be other
Singapore Chinese companies which do operate in China
without our knowledge and without registering at a
Consulate as required by the Order in Council. By the
terms of that Order they are not entitled to be recognized
or protected as British companies, but the proviso is
added that they shall nevertheless be subject to the
jurisdiction of His Majesty's Courts, and it is this
/unfortunate