Appendix G (1).
REPORT OF THE OFFICIAL RECEIVER AND REGISTRAR OF TRADE MARKS AND PATENTS FOR THE YEAR 1934.
BANKRUPTCY
AND
COMPANIES WINDING-UP.
New Business.
Twenty three petitions in bankruptcy were presented during the year, nineteen by creditors and four by debtors, as against forty one the previous year.
2. In companies winding-up nine petitions were filed. Of these two were dismissed, two withdrawn, and in five cases compulsory winding-up orders were made, whereas in the previous year only four petitions were filed, of which one was dismissed while in three cases compulsory orders were made.
3. The total assets collected amounted to $145,539.24. The liabilities, as estimated by the debtors, amounted to $2,786,700.10. These figures, which include both bankruptcies and companies liquidations, whilst showing an appreciable decrease over the previous year in assets collected, show on the other hand a considerable increase in the estimated value of the liabilities as will appear from the comparative table overleaf. The disproportion between the liabilities and assets is accounted for by the fact that although in three cases petitions in bankruptcy were filed in 1933 yet the statements of affairs were not submitted until the year under review, thereby swelling the liabilities by $995,011.80, and also by the fact that two additional companies went into liquidation as above mentioned.
4. Only one salaried employee filed a petition in bankruptcy during the year under review, but on the other hand five Chinese factories (one handkerchief and garter, one knitting, one sauce, one printing-press, and one rubber), two silk stores. two leather firms and their branches, one shipyard, one Chinese bank, one pawnshop, and one money changers firm failed which is indicative of the industrial and commercial depression in Hong Kong.
Page 240Page 241