ENG-1961 — Page 256

LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

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therein should advance to new record figures in 1961. The number of instruments registered in the Land Office rose by 12.9% over the 1960 total to 26,735, and the grand total of the considerations which passed on sales of land soared to $1,113,215,000, as against $642,723,805 recorded in the previous year. The total amount advanced on mortgages of land also constituted a new record, $684,502,000 being advanced at an average rate of interest of around 11% per annum. Over 60,000 names now appear in the Land Office Index of Property Owners, some owning many properties, others being merely co-owners of a small flat.

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Companies. The Companies Registry keeps records of all com- panies incorporated in Hong Kong and also of all foreign cor- porations which have established a place of business in the Colony. Local companies are incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, which is based on the (now superseded) Companies Act, 1929, of Great Britain. Whereas in the past joint enterprises by Chinese businessmen were undertaken mainly in the form of Chinese partnerships of the traditional type, Chinese businessmen have of recent years become 'Company minded', and the numbers of registrations of companies owned by Chinese have been in- creasing greatly. Nowadays, most new enterprises of any magnitude are launched as limited companies. This is especially true of the building industry where it has become virtually the standard practice to form a new company for each new building venture. Because of the continued building boom and generally active business conditions there was a very sharp rise in the number of company registrations to the new record total of 861 during the year. This was 219 more than in 1960.

The nominal capital of the new companies registered during 1961 totalled $647,843,030, an increase of 25% over the previous year. Twenty five of the companies had a nominal share capital of $5,000,000 or over. On incorporation a company pays a registration fee of $100 plus $2 for every $1,000 of nominal capital. At the end of the year there were 4,976 local companies on the register compared with 4,181 on 31st December 1960.

Companies incorporated outside the Colony are required to register certain documents with the Companies Registry within one month after the establishment of a place of business in Hong Kong. Only small filing fees are payable in such cases. During