MR. SWIFT MACNETLLI beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade if he will invite the attention of the Committee on Joint Stock Companies, now sitting at the Board of Trade, to a speech recently made to the shareholders of the Golden Horse Shoe Estates Company by Sir John Purcell, a former Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, denouncing certain 1134 practices which have been, and are still being, carried on in the City of London to the detriment of the gold-mining industry of Western Australia; and whether His Majesty's Government have received any communication from the Agent-General for Western Australia suggesting that some joint action might be expediently taken for the purpose of preventing future gold-mining scandals.
§ MR. BONAR LAWThe attention of the Committee which is now sitting shall be directed to Sir John Purcell's speech, though it is very doubtful whether the evils of which he speaks can be cured by any legislation in this country. No communication has been received by the Board of Trade from the Agent-General for Western Australia.