§ MR. ADDISON (Ashton-under-Lyne)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the remarks of Mr. Justice Hawkins, made on Wednesday last in the course of his summing up in the ease of "The Queen against Bottomley and others," to the effect that as the law now stands there is no responsibility on Directors of Limited Companies who scandalously neglect their duty, and recommending that the law on the subject should be altered, and also recommending that the law should be amended so that Directors and promoters should be compelled to see that the prospectus set forth succinctly and clearly, so as to be intelligible to everybody, what the real effect of the contract was; and whether, having regard to the evils resulting to trade from the laws which regulate the formation of these Companies, he is prepared to bring in a Bill to amend those laws, or to promote the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the matters complained of?
§ MR. MUNDELLAThe change in the law referred to by the hon. Member would raise a series of questions of an intricate and controversial character relating to the formation of Companies which could only be properly dealt with by a comprehensive revision of the law. I do not think that Parliament can be asked to undertake a work of such mag- 1496 nitude, and I must remind the hon. Member that the provisions of Section 10 of the Companies Winding-up Act, 1890, have not been fully tested up to the present time.