§ Sir B. FALLEasked the President of the Board of Trade the reasons why he 814W has permitted 330 public companies to continue for a period of five months to disregard the Act of Parliament which requires public companies to file annual accounts and balance sheets on a certain date?
§ Mr. GILLETTI would refer the hon and gallant Member to the full answer given by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 6th May to the questions asked on this subject by the hon. Member for Ilford (Sir G. Hamilton) and the hon. and learned Member for East Grinstead (Sir H. Cautley), a copy of which I am sending him.
§ Sir B. FALLEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the difficulty experienced by his Department in obtaining annual accounts and balance sheets, as is shown by 330 public companies being in default five months after the statutory date, he will consider the advisability of delegating to the committee of the London Stock Exchange the duty of obtaining in January and July of each year these particulars from companies whose securities are quoted on the London Stock Exchange, so as to avoid it being incumbent upon a shareholder to take police court proceedings under the Companies Act, 1929?
§ Mr. GILLETTThe returns have to be filed with the Registrar of Companies, and I have no power to delegate responsibility for obtaining them to the committee of the Stock Exchange. As the hon. and gallant Member appears to be under some misapprehension as to the kind of companies still in default, I take this opportunity of stating that of the cases outstanding, which have now been reduced to about 280, none are companies whose shares are quoted on the Stock Exchange, although dealings are permitted in the case of 11.