Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 779

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Petitioners pray that the existing law may be modified so as to allow, in the event of a failure, the partners to pay off the debts due in proportion to the extent of the capital invested in the business by each partner. All traders will then be glad to register their true names.

2. When the true names of partners have been registered, such partners, if the business fails, will of course be required by law to pay off their debts. But if they have no property in Hongkong, the creditors, either European or Chinese, should be allowed to request the Government to move the Chinese authorities to have the debtors' property situated in China distrained so as to liquidate the debts due, in which way deception and fraud will be prevented.

3. According to the law in Hongkong a person is allowed to file a petition in bankruptcy. On this account a crafty person, knowing that his business is not solvent, will transfer his property to the name of another person or remove his goods and chattels to some other place before presenting petition in bank- ruptcy, thus rendering it impossible for his creditors to enquire into and recover the debts due to them, This has a most injurious effect on trade. In future in cases of bankruptcy, Petitioners pray that out of a committee of thirty-two European and Chinese merchants eight may be selected by vote to examine care- fully into all cases of persons who present petitions in bankruptcy and that such petitions be only granted if they are found to be genuine. Thus the evil of making false representations may be prevented.

4. Partners in shops or firms who have not registered their real names, should, after having been duly notified, be allowed from three to five months within which to repair in person to the Registration Depart- ment to have their names in the registers altered and to report their true names, their domicile, village, &c. Those partners who are resident in the country or who have gone to some other port, and consequently, cannot come to Hongkong, should write a letter in their own handwriting to some reliable friend or relative asking him to register for them. Such letter should be filed in the Registrar General's Office as evidence. All those who have hitherto used false names in registration should not be dealt with, so that they may not be deterred through fear of punishment from registering correctly.

5. Persons who wish to withdraw from a partnership should repair in person to the Registration Department to have their names romoved from the Register. If any person is unable to come himself, he he should write a letter in his own handwriting to some trustworthy friend or relative asking him to sign the register. Such letter should also be kept in the Registrar General's Office as future evidence. Further if a person withdraws from a partnership, the fact should be advertised in the Press, so that it may be known to everybody, and credit may not be given by mistake. If the name of a person has been removed from the register but no notice of such removal has been advertised in the Press, such person should not be considered as having withdrawn from the partnership if the business fails. Business transactions are carried on uninterruptedly; and, if the fact of a person's withdrawing from a partnership be not published, disputes will be sure to arise.

6. If a partner desires to withdraw from a partnership, he should first settle with the person to whom he is transferring his share. Both parties should sign an agreement and the arrangement should be duly ad- vertised in the Press. But before this notice is published in the Press, the person who is withdrawing from the partnership, if he owes any money, should first arrange with his creditors that they are willing to recover the debts due to them from the person to whom the partnership is being transferred. Only in this way can it be said that a partnership has been clearly transferred. If the creditors do not consent to the course indicated they should still be allowed to recover their debts from the original partner, who should be hold liable for such debts notwithstanding the advertisement in the Press. All advertisement should appear in the Press for three months, so that they may be widely known.

7. If a shop or firm is also used as the place of business of the branch of another firm, the manager of such shop or firm should come in person to the Registration Department and report the names of the partners of the original business represented by such branch firm, and to what places it sends goods. If such agency ceases to do business, this should be reported to the Registration Department and the name of the ageney removed from the register.

8. If any person desires to find out who the masters and the managers of a shop or firm are, he should be permitted to enquire at the Registration Department and search the registers on payment of a Govern- ment fee of, say, 20 or 25 cents, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble. The person wanting to make a search should apply in writing, and his application, which should be chopped with the seal of his firm, should state the name of his own firm and the names of the partners of the firm for which he wishes to search.

(Signed)

Leung On and others.

No. 62.

SIR,

Appendix M.

REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

HONGKONG, 7th September, 1882.

I have the honour to forward a very important and influentially signed document which was handed to me by Mr. Wei A Yuk last month for submission to His Excellency the Administrator. I enclose the Chinese text and translation.