§ 1. Mr. RHYS DAVIESasked the President of the Board of Trade the total number of limited liability companies which have been formed since the War; the number that have gone into liquidation or have otherwise ceased to function; the total amount of capital lost to shareholders through the failure of such companies; and the number of prosecutions which have been instituted in connection with any of such failures?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. Runciman)The total number of limited liability companies registered in England and Scotland during the years 1919 to 1931 inclusive is 115,020. It is not possible without a very lengthy investigation to state how many of these companies have been dissolved but the number of companies of all classes irrespective of their date of registry dissolved during those years is 59,182. I regret that the remainder of the information desired is not available.
§ Mr. DAVIESCan the right hon. Gentleman give any approximate figures in reply to the part of the question which relates to the amount of capital lost?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe amount of capital lost to shareholders cannot be stated with any accuracy, because during liquidation it very often happens that a certain amount of capital is repaid, and there are some other factors of an uncertain character which would make the figures unascertainable.