- 2 -
requirements in respect of the registration and
articles of the Company and the number and residence
of its directors.
They must all be bona fide resident
in Hongong. The resent Bill merely increases
their number.
There can be no doubt, I think, that
the second object also has been achieved and that the achievement is due to the efficiency of this Hong Kong
Company working within the scheme of an ordinance which places the ultimate control of its activities
in the hands of the Governor-in-Council and of this
Council.
In framing an Ordinance governing a public utility company the interests of three parties have to be considered, though in a final analysis these may be reduced to two: the public generally, and that part of the public which subscribes for the services rendered by the Company, and the shareholders of the Com any. The 1925 Ordinance, therefore, in addition to making provision for a royalty, controlled both
dividends and subscription rates.
The net profits of the Company were dealt
with in the Resolution as follows:-
They were to be used firstly in ayent to
Government, as the representative of the public, of
a royalty of 4 in respect of each direct exchange line telephone, secondly in payment to the shareholders of the Company of a minimum dividend of 8 per cent per annum rising to 12 per cent per annum, thirdly in the event of the net profits exceeding 12 per cent per annun then as to the difference between 12 per cent and 18 per cent, half thereof was to be distributed in further dividends and the remaining half employed
in the reduction of the subscription rates; the
54