416
of the Act of Parliament, it appears to me they
ought to have the benefit of the Act of Parliament,
just in the same way that they could have benefit-
ed by the laws of this country by trading in this
country. The memorandum of association contemplated
trading in this country, not trading exclusively in
this country, but trading in this country, as well
as in other countries."
I am therefore, not prepared to legislate to
prevent Chinese forming companies in Hongkong. All
such companies ought to have a registered office in
Hongkong. See Section 9 of Ordnance I of 1865.
As to the protection to which individual members of
the Company so formed, not being british Subjects
are entitled, that is another matter altogether.
If a Frenchman or a Chinaman signs a memorandum
of association of, or becomes a shareholder in, a
British Company (in the sense of its being a com-
pany constituted under British laws regulating its
constitution and liabilities and the liabilities of
its members, inter se, and as regards creditors and
others) such Frenchman remains a Frenchman and such
Chinaman remains a Chinaman.
I regard the question of "what protection should
be given to such a Company or its members, not
British subjects, engaged in China in the Company's
business", as a question to be decided by Consuls
through the Minister at Peking or the Foreign Office.
I am not aware of any legal right to such protection
and do not see how any Court could enforce such a
right. In a matter of the policy of the Foreign
Office, I do not know that any (sic, my?) view is
entitled to any weight.
I annex particulars of the signatures to the
memoranda of Association of the various Companies of
the kind recently formed and I think the Secretary of
State might well be informed of this 0
'new departure"
and be asked whether he thinks it would be advisable
to legislate acquiring (sic.requiring?)
any minimura
its
fixed proportion of the capital of such Company to
be
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