§ SIR. B. HALL wished to put a question to the hon. and learned Member for Nottingham (Mr. F. O'Connor) with reference to the National Land Company. He had made inquiries at the Registration Office, and he found that nearly 100,000 names of subscribers to that Company had been registered. The Company had, as yet, been only registered as a Provisional Company, although the hon. Member for Nottingham had stated in July last that the Company would be completely registered within a week from that time. It appeared from the records of the office, however, that no such registration had been made, and that no copies of deeds had been lodged in that office which would entitle the Company to a certificate of complete registration. He wished, therefore, to ask the hon. Member for Nottingham whether, as one of the leaders of this Company, it was his intention to place the Company in a position to obtain a certificate of complete registration?
§ MR. O'CONNOR replied, that as soon as the Company was established, he applied to the certifying barrister for a certificate of registration; but that gentleman declared that he considered it was not in his power to certify the Company. He, therefore, had the Company provisionally registered; and although the hon. Baronet seemed astonished at the number of names that had been registered when he made inquiries at the office, he would find, if he took the trouble to inquire now, that that number had been very considerably increased. Having proceeded to a certain point, he (Mr. O'Connor) found that the expense of complete registration would be enormous. He learned that many companies were only provisionally registered, as that gave the members of the Companies sufficient protection; but he was most anxious that this Company should be completely registered. He was, however, recommended to bring in a Bill to do away with the necessity for complete registration 929 in this case. He brought in such a Bill at as early a period as possible—it had been presented to the House, and had been ordered to be printed—and he (Mr. O'Connor) had named the earliest day he could for the second reading. He might also state that, in the event of the House refusing to sanction the Bill, it was his determination, cost what it might, to procure the complete registration of the Company, for nothing would give him more satisfaction than to be altogether discharged from the onerous responsibilities which naturally attached to a person who held the position he occupied with regard to a society numbering—as the hon. Baronet said—100,000 persons.
§ SIR B. HALL understood that the hon. Gentleman had fixed the second reading of his Bill for the 14th of June; and he wished distinctly to understand the hon. Member that, if the Bill did not pass, he would proceed to obtain the complete registration of the Company.
§ MR. O'CONNOR said, it was Ids determination, if the House refused to sanction his Bill, at once to obtain the complete registration of the Company.