The 1926 edition of this extremely vsefel book of reference has made its appearance. Its contents are by mecons limited by its name, for, gives of many of the banks, insurance, investment, industrial and rubber companies operating in China, it contains sections dealing with the Stock Exchange, statistics of the exchange variations and rub= ber production, and British and American Company Law. The book is excellently produced by the "North-China Daily News Herald'
The compiler of such a book (in this case Mr, C. R, Maguire) is faced with the difficulty that he has necessarily to rely on companies for a great deal of his information, and that it is not easy to keep parts of the book up to date and accurate, The summaries of companies contein a few obvious instances where general particulars have been copied from previous records without alteration, so that deceased and retired gentlemen are mentioned as legal advisers, auditors and directors; but ' the comparative figures, showing profits, reserves, dividends, highest and lowest share quotations, ete, for a period of years, and including the latest available figures, appear to have been carefully compiled, and should be most useful.
The section dealing with the rubter industry contains a paragraph urging investors to study the subject before buying shares in this market, and some very interesting information and statistics are supplied as a basis for such study, It probable, however, that the majority of those interested in rubber shares in Shanghai, Hongkong, and elsewhere in China, will con: tinue to be interested' more speculators than as investors, an their profits or lorses will depend as much en the folly or wisdom of ether speculators as en the real merits of the shares concerned, The extracts from the Companies Ordi and the China Trade Act give the chief points in these very concisely, It would not, however, be sonable to expect that every ish company operating under the former and American company under the latter should be in actual possession of copies of them. Why the extracts from the Companies should be headed and indexed under Most Excellent Majesty is not immediately. iRerent points in the book there axe certain obiter dicta of the compiler or his assistants to which n might be taken, particular.
are expressed' in a somewhat authoritative manner, On page 94 it is laid down for com: panies that sums equivalent to the reserves for depreciation should be invested in such a way as to be readily available for meeting the cost of substitution, "It is quite iMegitimate, though a common error, to use available funds of this kind for the purpose of building addition. al works or factories." Why should a company issue new capital for extensions if it can safely tse funds already at its disposal for extensions? By using these funds it "can corn a higher percentage of profit for distribution to shareholders, and raise new capital for replacements when necessary, sourdiy run it should be easier for it to raise the capital at this point, while lees would probably be need-explanations of various Stock minge and general commercial terms (on the baris of English Law) ere well prepared and comprehensive, but exception must also ko taken to some of these, Tt is, for instance, no business' of an auditor to' get out a balance shoet—"; his duties and rights are not well defined here, In dealing with dividends it should have been. made clear that directors usually have power to declare interim dividends, but that no final dividend can be declared until recommended by the directors and pasted at a general meeting of the company. The powers of shareholders in respect of dividends do not seem to bbe generally known, The remarks about Joint Stock Companies were possibly true prior to the year 1844, but have no rela~ tion to the present time, and little useful or accurate information is given under the important headings of "Private Company" and "Public Company.
The China Stock and Share Handbook is now on sale at $6, and will deservedly find its place with the Hong List and other books of easy reference in most business offices in Shanghai and the other parts of China, 4
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.