8028.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
EPIC.O. 885
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIR,
No. 208.
(WESTERN AUSTRALIA.)
LAW OFFICERS TO COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
29th March, 1899.
1897.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Lucas's letter of No. 8 of the 3rd instant, stating that he was directed by you to forward to us a copy of an Act 1893. recently passed by the Legislature of Western Australia with regard to which Her No. 35 of Majesty's pleasure had not yet been signified, entitled "An Act to amend the Companies No. 28 of Act, 1893, Amendment Act, 1897," together with copies of "The Companies Act, 1893," 1898. and "The Companies Act, 1893, Amendment Act, 1897," of the same Colony.
That the passing of this Act had occasioned considerable anxiety among the English Companies carrying on operations in Western Australia, and a large number of them had already addressed a joint protest to the Agent General of the Colony, pointing out the objections which they entertained to it, and which were shared by the London Chamber of Commerce.
That Mr. Lucas was to enclose a letter received by the Colonial Office from the 20th Feb. King Solomon's Gold Mines Company, Limited, containing a print of the joint protest 1899. above mentioned, and a copy of a communication to the Agent General from the London Chamber of Commerce, from which the nature of the objections felt to the enactment in question sufficiently appeared.
Mr. Lucas was to request that we would take these papers into our consideration, and would favour you with our opinion on the following points :-
1. Whether, and, if so, in what respects, Act No. 28 of 1898 (Western Australia) was in conflict with the Imperial Companies Acts.
2. Whether, and, if so, what amendments were required to bring it into harmony with the provisions of those Acts.
3. Generally.
We have taken the papers into our consideration, and in obedience to your commands have to
Report-
THAT although the Act No. 28 of 1898 (Western Australia) is not in direct conflict with any of the provisions of the Imperial Companies Acts, it appears to us to be somewhat inconsistent with the scheme of Colonial registration which is embodied in the Colonial Registration Act, 1883.
Under that Act the Colonial Courts have power to alter the register, and we do not read the words in the Act No. 28 as to the lodging of transfers as intended to mean more than that lodging at the Colonial Office shall be effectual.
It is however very inconvenient to have a separate code of this kind with reference to Colonial registration. Every object of this Act with reference to the keeping of a Colonial register might, we think, be obtained by rendering it obligatory on Companies carrying on in the Colony the business mentioned in Section 8 of the Colonial statute, to avail themselves of the provisions of the Act of 1883, and we would suggest for consideration whether some such provision as that contained in the Western Australia Act, 1897, as to there being a certain percentage of shareholders resident in the Colony, would not be reasonable.
The Act of 1883 contains a clause dealing with the difficulty as to stamps which is raised in the letter from King Solomon's Gold Mints Limited.
We cannot say that the provision in Section 4 of Act No. 28 of 1898 is in conflict with the Imperial Statutes, but it would circumscribe the freedom of action of any Company to which it applied in manner which might be most inconvenient.
At present
a Company may provide by its Articles for some form of substituted service here as regards shareholders abroad.
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