CO129-554-4 Companies Amendment Ordinance 1935 7-1-1935 - 17-12-1935 — Page 51

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(6), Except with the permission of the Governor, a

company may not be registered by, or a dopt or use, any name

which includes the word 'British': Provided that a China

Company may, without any such permission, be registered by and

use a name which includes the word 'British'.

By Section 6(6) of the Companies Ordinance 1915,

Section 64(1) (a) of The Companies Ordinance of 1911 was amended

by the addition of the words:-

"and, in the case of a China Company, the characters

1.

No correspondence is on file to show why or how these

amendments were made.

At the Conference of British Chambers of Commerce in China

and Hongkong held at Shanghai in November 1920 the following

resolution, regarding the official English names of British

companies, was carried:-

"that this Conference considers it desirable that enquiry

be made into the advisability of legislation being enacted

whereby the word 'British......be appended to the names of all

China Companies"......

The resolution was prompted by the feeling that the use

of the word "Limited" would not serve to distinguish British

companies, and by the desire to avoid the risk that ill

managed companies of other nationalities might be thought to be

British to the prejudice of the general good reputation of

British firms.

Similar arguments were again used at the Conference in

1921, ("If a 'limited' company goes bankrupt it casts a slur on

the British name amongst Chinese."), which went further and

resolved tnat:-

"This Conference considers it desirable that legislation

be enacted whereby the word 'British'

be used after the

•

names/