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Commerce will be good enough to nominato two of its Members, His Excellency the Gover. nor will be pleased, to appoint two officers of the Government, the Captain Superintendent of Police and the Acting Harbour Master, to joint them on the proposed Committee. If the suggestion meets with the approval of the Chamber, I am to request yon to furnish at your convenience the names of the gentlemen nominated.
I have the honour to bo, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Colonial Secrotary.
The SECRETARY,
Per Jobs Ma
Chamber of Commerce.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 16th November, 1900,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
4.-In forwarding this draft Bill, which the Committee believe will have a most salutary effect in helping to reduce the number of frau- dulent bankruptcies, they are not so optimistic as to expect that it will act as a complote check on all fraud of the kind. To secure this it will be necessary to establish a system for the compulsory registration of the individual mem bers of Chinese firms or hongs trading in this Colony.
5.-This is no now question, nor is it a novel panacea for commercial ills. The advisability of the creation of such a system was considered so far back as 1874, when a Bill entitled the Victoria Registration Ordinance was drafted for the purpose, but did not become law. The question was again urged upon the then Go- vernment in 1877 by this Chamber, but with- out effect, the reply returned, on the 28th SIR,
August, 1878, stating that it would be “ very
to carry out I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of inexpedient
such regis- your letter of the 13th inst. in reference to the tration"; no reason for the alleged inexpe- proposed system of continuous record certifi.dience, however, being offered. Again, in cates for the masters and engineers of steam- April. 1891, when considering the draft of the launches, stating that it is proposed to appoint present Bankruptcy Amendment Ordinance, a Committee to consider the subject and report the Committee of the Chamber of Chamber to the Government, and asking this Chamber expressed a strong opinion that, to render the to nominate two of its Members to serve thereon. measure more completely applicable to local requirements, it should be preceded or supple- mented by a Bill for the compulsory registra- tion of the partners in Chinese firms, and added that without such registration as an adjunct the proposed new Bankruptcy Ordinance would lose much in usefulness. How thoroughly this provision has boon fulfilled, the records of the Supreme Court can readily demonstrate.
In reply, I am instructed by the Committee to submit the names of Messrs. A. M. Marshall and D. L. Law for the approval of His Excel- lency the Governor, those gentlemen having signified their readiness to serve on such Com mittee.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX.
Secretary.
HON. COLONIAL SECRETARY.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE BANKRUPTCY
ORDINANCE. Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong. 31st October, 1900.
SIR,
Recent proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court, and more especially a judgment de- livered on the 9th July last by His Honour Chief Justice Sir John Carrington in the case Kung Hing Shing Kee ca parte Albert Ah Wee, in which it was laid down that, according to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Ordinance of 1891. Chinese traders or others non-resident in the Colony, although carrying on business therein under a firm's name either by them selves or in co-partnership with others, aro beyond the reach of that enactment, have made it apparent that the law as it stands does not afford that protection to creditors which was intended when it was framed. I am therefore instructed to request you to be good enough to bring the question to the attention of His Excellency the Governor with a view to secure amendment of the Ordinance referred to.
2.-The result of the case above quoted has ponvinced all those engaged in commerce in This Colony that it is practically useless for a creditor to institute bankruptcy proceedings against a Chinese firm, since, if it should sub- sequently appear that any one member of that firm is domiciled in China, and has not ordin- arily resided in Hongkong within a year of the presentation of the bankruptcy petition, such proceedings could be annulled. The Chinese custom of carrying on business under some fancy name, and of the firm con- sisting of a large number of partners, many of whom may be resident in China, and placing
the conduct of the concern in the hands of a
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6. No roal hardship would be entailed on the Chinese by the passage of such a measure. European and American honses trading here or in the Treaty Ports of China voluntarily an- nounce to the public, by means of circulars and by advertisements in the newspapers, the names of the individual partners in their firms, and of all changes in such partnerships. at considerable expense, and certain Chinese firms have voluntarily followed the example. It is not too much to ask if the mass of the Chinese are averso to such methods, that they should register their partnerships with the Registrar-General. As a proof that the Chinese themselves are not likely to entertain any objection to such a system. I would remind the Government that in 1882 a petition very numerously signed by Chinese traders was presented to the Registrar-General praying that hongs or shops be required "to rogister and to appoint a fixed date within which all shops are to send in without delay the real names and surnames of their masters." This was really only a proposal to put into practice here a custom of trade observed among them. selves in China, and as a means of identification and a precautionary measure against fraud could not excite hostility among reasonable per-
Sons.
7.-The creation of such a system would of course entail some trouble, and it would pro- bably necessitate the employment of one or two additional clerks. It might also require
as
the dissociation of the two offices of Colonial Secretary and Registrar-General; but this is very desirable for other reasons-the work of the former having greatly increased within the last three years-the Committee trust that such a consideration would not be allowed to weigh in a matter of so much importance to the trade of the Colony.
8.-Trusting that His Excellency the Governor will agree with the Committee that the time has arrived when an earnest attempt should manager or of a partner possessing only a small be made to grapple with a question so seriously pecuniary interest therein, is well known, and affecting the conduct of business and the ad- the evils arising from such custom have longministration of justice in the Colony-in proof been felt and acknowledged alike by British whereof I need only cite the fact that four and foreign merchants and by the Chinese them recent bankruptcy cases heard in the Supreme Court could have been settled in fewer hours than they took days to hear,
selves.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
R. Chatterton Wilcox,·
Secretary.
3.-The Committee, in asking the Govern ment to amend the Bankruptcy Ordinance of 1891, do so in the full assurance that they re- flect the views and give expression to the wishes of the entire mercantile community, the legal profession, and the Judges administering the HON. COLONIAL SECRETARY. law. In order to facilitate the end in view, and to indicate the direction they think such amendment should take, the Committee beg res- pectfully to submit the draft of a short amend- ing Bill (enclosed) for the consideration of the Government.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 9th November, 1900.
SIR,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 31st October, and to in-
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[November 24, 1900.
form you that the subjects with which it deals are engaging the attention of the Government.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
J. H. STEWART LOUKHART,
Colonial Secretary.
The SECRETARY,
Chamber of Commerce.
A BILL ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE BANKRUPTCY Ordinance, 1891. Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :—
Short
Title
Repeal of No. 20 of
enactment
1801.
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Bankruptcy Ordinance 1891 Amendment Ordinance, 1900.
2.-The following provisions shall have effect in the case of a firm carry- ing on business in the Colony, whether such firm consists of two or more per- sons being partners or of any person carrying on business under a partner- ship name, that is to say,-
(1) A creditor of the firm shall bo entitled to present a bankruptcy petition against the firm and a receiving order may be made against the firm in respect of an act of bankruptoy committed in reference to the business of the firm by any partner of the firm, or by the person carrying on busi- neas as aforesaid, or by any per son having the control or manage- mont of the business of the firm; (2) It shall be sufficient that a ro- ceiving order against the firm be made in the firm's name, without mentioning the names of the partners, and such receiving order shall affect the joint and separate property of all the partners, and the liko provisions shall apply in rospect of an adjudication of bankruptcy; and
(3) The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to make a receiving order or an adjudication of bankruptcy against the firm shall not be affec- ted by the fact, if it be so, that all or any of the partners of the firm or the person carrying on business as aforesaid are or is not British subjects or a British subject or are or is not domiciled in the Colony. 3.-Section 6 (1) (d) of the Bank- ruptcy Ordinance, 1891, is hereby repealed and the following enactment
is substituted instead thereof :-
(d) The debtor is domiciled in the Colony or, within a year before the date of the presentation of the potition, has ordinarily resided or had a dwelling-house or place of business in the Colony. 4.-Except so far as they are altered provision by this Ordinance, the provisions of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, 1891, shall Bankrupt apply to proceedings in Bankruptcy nance 1891 against firms.
Saving of general
of the
ry Ordi
No. 20 of 1801.
Australian papers just to hand show that the 10 per cent. increase on passengers inflicted on Hongkong rules for Australia also. A London telegram to Australia, dated the 12th ult. stated that the increase was 15 per cent.; that was incorrect as far as the Antipodeam and Eust routes are concerned. Con- Far menting upon the increase, a Ceylon journal says: It seems hard that, Ceylon being only. 22 days from London, and Sydney 18 more, and the consumption of coal--the reason given for the increase-being therefore almost double to the latter place, the percentage should be the same, especially as the rate of passage- money to Sydney is so slightly in advance of that asked to Colombo. We are used to hard treatment, however, from the great shipping.... lines in matters connected with Australia, and are therefore not surprised that no difference has been made in the increased percentage. The notice in the Age showed that the P. & O. undertook the unpleasant task of belling the
decided
прод cat' and made the increase - known."
K
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