CO129-251 - Acting Governor Barker - 1891 [9-11] — Page 47

the manner in which this Petition has been produced as well as the true feeling of the Colony

as to the

value and ne

the Bill.

In

necessity of

my opinion the Petition represents the views

no

of a small and by means the most influential section of the community.

I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your Lordships Most Obedient

Humble Servant,

Suits Baker

19 in Original

91

To

Enclosure I in despatch W. 287 of 2th September, 1891, from the O.AG - Houghing.

The Right Honourable Lord Knutsford,

Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The Memorial and Petition of the Undersigned Bankers, Merchants, Brokers, Traders, and others carrying on business in the Colony of Hongkong.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP.

We, Your Memorialists, are residents of and carry on business in Hongkong and are deeply interested in the growth and continued prosperity of the Colony and claim the right to address you, through the authorized channels, on all occasions when, in our opinion, that growth and prosperity is in danger of being impeded or diminished, whether by the action of the Local Government or by any other means.

We address you now complaining of the action of the Local Government in passing through the Legislative Council "An Ordinance to amend the Law in respect of the sale of Shares in Companies "registered under the Companies Ordinances 1865 to 1888 and in other Joint Stock Companies," which Ordinance, if allowed and confirmed by Her Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN and put into operation, will unduly interfere with a very large and very valuable business carried on in this Colony and will seriously injure many of your petitioners.

This Ordinance, first introduced in July, 1890, by an Unofficial Member of Council, the Honour- able JAMES JOHNSTONE KESWICK, applies to all shares in all Joint Stock Companies, the provisions of "Leemann's Act" in regard to Bank shares. It forbids the sale of shares not in the possession, or under the control of the Vendor at the date of entering into the contract. It requires the insertion in the Contract of Sale of the numbers or murks of the shares to be affected by it. It renders null and void all contracts that do not identify the shares sold by numbers or otherwise.

On its first introduction it was reserved for your Lordship's consideration and your reply was, that you saw no objection to its being proceeded with, if the Unofficial Members of Council agreed.

The Unofficial Members of Council are not agreed upon the subject. Que of thera, the Honour- able Mr. CHATER, has been absent during the entire period of the debates. The Member representing the Chamber of Commerce has consistently opposed the Bill and divided against it in almost all its stages. The Honourable Member, (Dr. Ho Kai) representing the Chinese Community, after hearing Counsel against the Bill, moved for an inquiry into the truth of the facts by which it was said to be justified and on which it was based, and the seconder, the Honourable Mr. Krate, was strongly of opinion that the Bill needed many amendmente before it could be usefully passed into law.

Your Memorialists would further represent that, at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, specially summoned to consider the question, the whole of the Committee of the Chamber (consisting of the leading merchants in the Colony) with the exception of the mover and seconder of the Bill, and a large majority of the members declared themselves against the Bill as interfering with the freedom of trade and on the ground that it afforded no adequate remedy for the evils against which it was directed,

Your Memorialists, therefore, in the first place submit that your Lordship's instructions with reference to the passage of this Bill through Council have been disregarded and they beg of you, before advising Her Majesty on the Bill, to take into consideration the grave differences of opinion that exist in the Conneil and the Colony on the subject and to examine the question afresh and on its merits.

The better to enable your Lordship to deal with the subject they have to premise that under the provisions of the Companies Ordinances 1865-1885 there have sprung up in Hongkong in connection with and as a necessary part of the machinery of its vast trade Banks, Insurance Companies (Fire and Marine), Manufacturing, Mining, Building, Trading and Investment Companies whose operations extend over all parts of the East and the market value of the shares in which was estimated by Sir GEORGE W. Das Vœux in September, 1889, at SIXTY-THREE MILLIONS of dollars.