CLAUSE 3.—(Duty of Trustees for Enemies to Notify the Custodian.) (Hansard, 26 November 1914)

§ Sir J. SIMON
I beg to move to add, at the end of the Clause the following new Sub-section:— (2) Every company incorporated in the United Kingdom and every company which though not incorporated in the United Kingdom has a share transfer or share registration office in the United Kingdom shall within one month after the passing of this Act by notice in writing communicate to the Custodian full particulars of all shares, stock, debentures and debenture stock, and other obligations of the company which are held by or for the benefit of an enemy, and every partner of every firm, one or more partners of which on the commencement of the War became enemies or to whom money had been lent for the purpose of the business of the firm by a partner who so became an enemy, shall within one month after the commencement of this Act by notice in writing communicate to the Custodian full particulars as to any share of profits and interest due to such enemies or enemy, and if any company or partner fails to comply with the provisions of this Sub-section the company shall on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Act be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in addition to a further fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the default continues, and the partner and every director, manager, secretary, or officer of the company who is knowingly a party to the default shall on the like conviction be liable to the like fine or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months or to both such imprisonment and fine.' These words will bring into this Bill in what I think is the proper form, a valuable suggestion which was made yesterday by the hon. Member for Liverpool (Mr. Rutherford) and which was supported in all quarters of the House. It is a proposal to this effect: that a company incorporated in the United Kingdom which has enemy shareholders shall be required to make a return to the Custodian showing who these enemy shareholders are and what their address is, even although the company is not distributing a dividend. I propose that shall be extended further in 1468 the case of companies not incorporated in the United Kingdom if they have share registers here—such as a Transvaal mining company, or an American company. It should also extend to the case of partners where one or more are enemies. That is only putting into form what was proposed yesterday and accepted by the Committee as highly desirable. I can assure the House with complete confidence that the Clause simply expresses in proper form a highly desirable improvement of the Bill.

§ Sir F. BANBURY
I dare say the idea of the Clause is excellent. But it is going to give an enormous amount of trouble to large companies. Take the case of the Great Northern Railway Company, of which I am a director. I do not know how many shareholders we have—I think 30,000. We also have a large number of debenture and preference shareholders in addition. Supposing our registrar, who would have to go through 50,000 different names to find out if any are enemy aliens, omits to do that? Am I to be fined or imprisoned with or without hard labour? A great deal of work is going to be put on everybody by the present Amendment. What is going to be gained by it? I should like to know what the advantage will be. Take the case of a company like the London and North-Western Railway. The work which will be cast upon it will be enormous, and I do not quite see what is going to be gained by it. I understand there is a Clause coming on later—Clause 8—which says no company may transfer from an alien enemy unless it receives valuable consideration. That Clause, so long as it is not made retrospective, is a good one, but I shall object to its being made retrospective. This new provision is going to cost the large companies a great sum of money, and I should like to learn from the Attorney-General who is going to gain by it?

§ Sir C. CORY
I am very much obliged to the right hon. Gentleman for drafting this Clause, but it does not at all meet the Clause I proposed yesterday. This Amendment provides that companies shall register their shareholders.

§ Sir F. BANBURY
Shall give the information to the Public Trustee or Custodian.

§ Sir C. CORY
The object of my Clause was that creditors here should give notice to the Custodian—

§ Sir J. SIMON
That is a different Clause.

§ Mr. DUKE
As the Attorney-General said, there was a consensus of opinion in Committee last night that it was desirable to have some effectual means of enforcing the wish that Members in all parts of the House expressed that the dispatch of dividends directly or indirectly to alien enemies should be prevented. It is recognised that in the great companies in this country there happens to be a very large number of shareholders who are alien enemies. Extreme views were expressed as to the desirability of dealing in a much more stringent way with those shareholders, but the common view of the Committee was that in order that there might not be, by negligence or want of scruple, the dispatch of money, directly or indirectly, out of the country so that it would assist the enemy, the Government should have the assistance of responsible people. I think the Board of Trade should have the assistance of the actual communication of the names of shareholders. The hon. Baronet (Sir F. Banbury) has said it will cost great expense to the Great Northern Railway Company—

§ Sir F. BANBURY
And to all railway companies.

§ Mr. DUKE
On the other hand it is just the class of company in which there is a sure return upon investments and it is very likely that proceeds of investments will go abroad by some means or other.

§ Sir F. BANBURY
No.

§ Mr. DUKE
At any rate the community is very anxious about this at the present time. I cannot doubt that that is appreciated by the Great Northern Company or any other, and it will be desired that the cost of sorting 500 out of 30,000 names shall be paid for the purpose of satisfying the public demand. The right hon. Gentleman has met the wish unanimously expressed from all sides, and I hope he will adhere to what he has proposed.