§ Mr. GINNELLasked the President of the Board of Trade when the attention of the Board is directed to the financial 1406 condition of any company, whether the Board, in the public interest, go beyond the merely technical check required for filing; and, in view of the character of the last balance sheet of the Guardian Bank, and the character of a collecting society run by one of its officials on bank premises and partly with bank money, whether the Board will have the affairs of this joint concern investigated on the 31st of the present month and the result made public.
Mr. BUXTONThe Registrar of Joint Stock Companies has no power to audit any statement in the form of a balance-sheet which is presented to him for filing by a company, but any such statement is required to be audited by the company's auditors in accordance with the provisions of Section 26 of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908. The only power of investigation into the affairs of a company which is not in liquidation possessed by the Board of Trade is that contained in Section 109 of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, in accordance with which the Board of Trade may appoint an inspector to investigate the affairs of a company on the application of members holding not less than one-tenth of the shares issued. No such application has been received by the Board of Trade in the case of the company referred to by the hon. Member, and consequently the jurisdiction of the Board of Trade to appoint an inspector has not arisen.