ENG-1963 — Page 284

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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

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 1,249 during the year. This was 179 more than in 1962. The nominal capitals of the new companies registered during 1963 totalled $812,489,258.00 an increase of 3.8 per cent over the cor- responding figure for the previous year. Of the new companies, 22 had a nominal share capital of $5 million or over. At the end of the year there were 7,064 local companies on the register com- pared with 5,925 in 1962.

Companies incorporated outside the Colony are required to register certain documents with the Companies Registry within one month of establishing a place of business in Hong Kong. Only small filing fees are payable in such cases. During the year 54 foreign companies registered, and 20 ceased to operate. By the end of the year there were 511 foreign companies registered as com- pared with 477 in 1962. Usually for tax reasons, many foreign companies incorporate subsidiaries in Hong Kong in preference to operating a branch office.

A Companies Law Revision Committee has been appointed by the Governor with the following terms of reference: 'To consider and make recommendations as to the revision of the company legislation of Hong Kong, and in particular to recommend as soon as possible whether legislation for prevention of fraud in relation to investments is required and, if so, the form which it should take.' The committee has received representations from various bodies and members of the public and is in course of studying the matters referred to it.

Local and foreign insurance companies which wish to transact life, fire or marine insurance business in Hong Kong must comply with the provisions of the Life Insurance and Fire and Marine Insurance Companies Ordinances respectively. In addition to the filing of annual accounts, these ordinances require deposits to be made with the Registrar of Companies unless the company qualifies for exemption by complying with the Insurance Com- panies Act, 1958, in Great Britain, or-in the case of fire and marine insurance-by maintaining similar deposits elsewhere in the Commonwealth. Arising out of the Colony's great commercial, shipping and industrial interests, an immense amount of insurance