§ Mr. ALBERYasked the President of the Board of Trade the number of private firms not trading as limited companies which failed or went into compulsory Liquidation for each of the last three years?
§ Mr. H. WILLIAMSThe number of failures under the Bankruptcy and Deeds1002W of Arrangements Acts in the principal trades during 1924, 1925 and 1926 are given in Annex V to the 44th Annual Report on Bankruptcy issued last year. Corresponding figures for 1927 have not yet been published.
§ Mr. ALBERYasked the President of the Board of Trade, for each of the last three years, the number of private companies registered, the number of private companies which went into voluntary liquidation, and the number of private companies which went into compulsory liquidation?
§ Mr. H. WILLIAMSAs regards the first part of the question, the number of private companies registered in England and Scotland were 7,955 in the year 1925 and 7,742 in the year 1926. The figures for 1927 are not yet available. As regards the second and third parts of the question, I a n unable to give the information asked for by my hon. Friend, as the statistics regarding liquidations do not distinguish between public and private companies.