XN000022-1972-11-29 — Page 14

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Wednesday, November 29, 1972

Mr. Woo went on to clarify some misapprehension of the role

which the Registrar of Companies would play in the exercise of his discretion

to refuse to register a prospectus.

"The Registrar is only concerned to see that a prospectus on

the face of it has contained all the statutory information and that such

information is not prima facie misleading in the form and context in which

it is included.

"His acceptance of a prospectus for registration is no guarantee

that it contains no misleading or inaccurate statements, much less that the

shares to be issued or offered for sale are regarded in any way as a

sound investment," he said.

The Hon. Q. W. Lee, who also supported the bill, spoke at

length about the "outstanding performance" of the Hong Kong stock market,

and attributed it to an increase in the supply of money, the strength of

our economy and the confidence it generates.

He said that since the beginning of January up till yesterday

(November 28) the total volume of business transacted on the stock exchanges

amounted to $36,477 million. During the same period a total of $1,550

million had been raised by 73 newly listed companies and 31,030 million by 15

existing listed companies.

Giving another example of the buoyancy of the economy, Mr, Lee

said despite the fact that $2,585 million had been raised to

finance new business in the past 11 months, bank deposits had still risen by $4,356

million to $23, 141 million in the nine months to the end of October.

/Turning