CO129-510-15 China (Companies) order in Council- 1925- correspondence 19-4-1928 - 31-12-1928 — Page 4

X now consolidated in

China

Part II of the

Muic, '4925.

made enabling China companies to keep branch

registers outside Hong Kong or China in places

where they carry on no business at all, simply as

a means of introducing their shares on the markets

of such places, particularly London. They cite

in favour of this the precedent of the Straits

Ordinance No. 155, Section 37 of which enables

a

the branch register to be kept in the United

Kingdom, or in any Colony other than the Straits,

without any restriction as to the company

transacting business in the place where the

branch register is kept.

Before answering the Foreign Office, I

think we should first -

(1) Look up the history of the Straits

legislation which is now contained in

Section 37 of Ordinance 155.

(2) Then refer the question to the Board

of Trade as the proposal is mainly one for

opening branch registers in London.

I may add that the Board of Trade

collaborated with the Foreign Office and Colonial

Office in the scheme resulting in the China

X

Companies Orders in Council, etc., and this

t

present question clearly concerns the Board of

Trade more than either the Foreign Office or

ourselves.

JS.R.

31.10.28.

Section 37 of Straits Ordinance 155

was introduced by Ordinance 13 of 1923 (see

the

4