GENERAL LOAN AND INSCRIBED STOCK ORDINANCE, 1913

GENERAL LOAN AND INSCRIBED STOCK ORDINANCE, 1913

No. 7 of 1913.
An Ordinance to declare the terms and conditions applicable
to loans authorized to be raised by the Government of
Hong Kong and to provide for the creation of Hong Kong
inscribed stock.
[18th April, 1913.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to define in one Ordinance the terms
and conditions applicable to loans hereafter authorized to
be raised in England by the legislature of the Colony of
Hong Kong:

AND WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the creation of
inscribed stock, and to enable the Colony to take advantage,
of the provisions of an Act of the Imperial Parliament
intituled 'The Colonial Stock Act, 1877' and the
subsequent Acts on the same subject :

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the General Loan and
Inscribed Stock Ordinance, 1913.

2. In this Ordinance, 'Crown Agents' means the person
or persons for the time being acting as Crown Agents for the
Colonies in England.

3. Whenever by any Ordinance authority has been given
or is hereafter given to raise any sum of money for the purposes
mentioned in such Ordinance, the Governor, or the Crown
Agents acting on his behalf, may from time to time, as he or
they may deem expedient, raise such sum either by debentures
or by Hong Kong inscribed stock, or partly by debentures and
partly by inscribed stock.

4. The principal moneys and interest represented by the
debentures or inscribed stock issued under the provisions of this
Ordinance are hereby charged upon and shall be payable out of
the general revenues and assets of the Colony of Hong Kong.

As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





5. When the Governor or the Crown Agents acting on his
behalf deem it expedient to raise money by debentures, such
debentures shall be issued in London on behalf of the Government
of Hong Kong by the Crown Agents, upon the best and most
favourable terms that can be obtained, and shall be signed by
any one of them on that behalf.

6. Every debenture issued under the provisions of this
Ordinance shall be for the sum of not less than one hundred
pounds sterling.

7. The debentures shall be redeemable at par at the option
of the Government by purchase in the market or by annual
drawings or on a date to be named in that behalf by the
Governor or by the Crown Agents acting on his behalf, as
determined when issuing the debentures, such date not being
later than sixty years from the date of issue, from and after
which date all interest on the principal moneys represented
thereby shall cease and determine, whether payment of the
principal has been demanded or not.

8. There shall be attached to every debenture coupons for
the payment of the interest to become due in each half-year upon
the principal represented by the debenture. The coupons shall
be sufficient in number to provide for the payment of the interest,
either durieng the whole period for which the debenture has to
run or for such limited period as the Crown Agents, acting on
behalf of the Government of Hong Kong, may determine.

9. The debentures and the coupons thereto shall be in such
form as the Governor, or the Crown Agents acting on his behalf,
may direct or approve.

10. Every debenture and coupon, and the right to receive
the principal and interest represented thereby, shall be
transferable by delivery.

11. Every debenture shall, before being issued, be registered
in a register book to be kept for that purpose at the office in
London of the Crown Agents.

12. The interest upon the principal represented by each
debenture shall run from the day named in that behalf in the

As arnended 6y Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





debenture, and shall be paid half-yearly on the days named in
that behalf in the debenture at the office in London of the Crown
Agents.

13. So long as any of the debentures remain outstanding
the Governor shall, in each half-year ending with the day on
which the interest on the debentures falls due, appropriate out
of the general revenues and assets of the Colony of Hong Kong
a sum equal to one half-year's interest on the whole of the
debentures issued, including any which may have been redeemed,
but exclusive of any which may have been at any time exchanged
for inscribed stock, and shall remit that sum to the Crown
Agents at such time as will enable them to pay thereout the
then current half-year's interest on the day on which it falls
due. Debentures shall not be deemed to be outstanding for the
purpose of this Ordinance by reason only that one or more of
the debentures have not been presented for payment on the day
appointed for payment and have in consequence, not been paid.

14. After the date specified in the Ordinance authorizing
the loan as that on which the contributions to the sinking fund
shall commence, the Governor shall, in each half-year ending
as aforesaid, appropriate out of the said revenues and assets
of the Colony of Hong Kong for the formation of a sinking
fund an additional sum equal to one half of the annual
contribution specified in the prospectus, or in the case of a loan
not issued publicly, in the terms of issue relating to the loan,
and the said contribution shall be in respect of the total nominal
amount of all the debentures issued, including any which may
have been redeemed, but exclusive of any which may have been
at any time exchanged for inscribed stock, and shall remit that
sum to the Crown Agents with the remittance mentioned in
section 13.

15. The sinking fund shall be applied in the first place in
payment of all expenses of or incidental to the redemption of
the debentures and the cost and expenses of all notices required
by this Ordinance to be given and in the next place, and subject
to the aforesaid payments, in repayment of the principal moneys
for the time being represented by the debentures.

As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





16. In the case of debentures redeemable on a date to be.
named when issuing the debentures, the Crown Agents shall
invest so much of the money so remitted to them as aforesaid
as is not required for the payment of interest for the current
half-year in the purchase of suih securities as may be approved
by His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies
as a sinking fund for the final extinction of the debt, and the
Crown Agents shall also invest the dividends, interest or produce
of such investments in the purchase of like securities, and may
from time to time, with the approval of the Secretary of State,
change any such investments and shall hold such fund in trust
for the repayment of the principal moneys for the time being
represented by the debentures.

17. In the case of debentures redeemable by annual drawings
the Crown Agents shall place and keep the moneys so remitted
to them, or so much thereof as is not required for immediate
payments, at interest, and shall hold all such moneys and the
accumulatiofis thereon in trust, to apply them in the first place
to the purchase of the debentures when they can be obtained
at a price not exceeding par, and secondly to the redemption of
the debentures by means of annual drawings.

18. After the date specified in the Ordinance authorizing
a loan as that on which the contributions to the sinking fund
shall commence in respect of that loan, and so long thereafter
as any of the debentures remain outstanding and unsatisfied,
the Crown Agents shall in every year, unless the whole of the
money applicable in that year to the redemption of debentures
has been applied in the purchase thereof, appoint a day in that
year for the drawing by lot of the debentures to be redeemed.

19. If a day is appointed for drawing the Crown Agents
shall give, by advertisement in the London Times newspaper,
not less than fifteen days' previous notice, specifying the day
on which and the hour and place at which the drawing will take.
place.

20. On the day and at the hour and place so specified the
Crown Agents shall hold a meeting, at which the holder of any
debenture may if he thinks fit be present, and shall then in the

As amended by Law Rev, Ord., 1939.





presence of such debenture holders, if any, as may attend, and
of a notary public, draw by lot, out of the whole number of
debentures for the time being outstanding, debentures of the
specified nominal amount.

21. The Crown Agents shall thereupon declare the dis-
tinguishing numbers of the debentures drawn for redemption,
and shall as soon as may be, by advertisement in the London
Times newspaper, specify those numbers and appoint a day,
not being later as to each debenture than the day on which the
then current half-year's interest thereon is payable, on which the,
principal moneys represented by the debentures so distinguished
will be repaid.

22. On the day so appointed the Crown Agents shall, at
their office in London, on demand pay to the holders of the
debentures drawn for repayment the principal moneys represented
by those debentures, with all interest payable thereon up to that
day.

23. From and after the day appointed for the repayment
of any debenture all interest on the principal moneys represented
thereby shall cease and determine, whether payment of the
principal has been demanded or not.

24. Upon the payment of the principal moneys represented
by any debenture, the debenture with all the coupons thereunto
belonging shall be delivered up to the Crown Agents to be by
them cancelled and forwarded to the Government of Hong Kong.
Any debenture redeemed by purchase shall likewise be so
cancelled and forwarded.

25. When the Governor or the Crown Agents acting on
his behalf deem it expedient to raise money by the issue of
Hong Kong inscribed stock, then such stock shall be issued in
England by the Crown Agents under the provisions of the
Colonial Stock Acts, 1877 to 1934, upon the best and most
favourable terms that can be obtained.

As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





26. All the inscribed stock which may be created under the
provisions of this Ordinance shall be redeemable at par on a
date to be named in that behalf by the Crown Agents when
issuing the stock, such date not being later than sixty years from
the date of issue, from and after which date all the interest on
the principal moneys represented thereby shall cease and
determine, whether payment of the principal has been demanded
or not.

27. So long as any of the inscribed stock remains unredeemed
the Governor shall, in each half-year ending with the day on
which the interest on such inscribed stock falls due, appropriate
out of the general revenues and assets of the Colony a sum equal
to one half-year's interest on the whole of such inscribed stock,
and shall remit that sum to the Crown Agents at such time as
will enable them to pay thereout the then current half-year's
interest on the day when it falls due.

28. After the date specified in the Ordinance authorizing an
issue of inscribed stock as that on which the contribution to the
sinking fund shall commence, the Governor shall further
appropriate out of the said revenues and assets in each half-year
ending as aforesaid for the formation of a sinking fund an
additional sum equal to one-half of the annual contribution
specified in the prospectus, or in the case of a loan not issued
publicly, in the terms of issue relating to the loan, in respect of
the total nominal amount of such inscribed stock, and shall remit
that sum to the Crown Agents with the remittance mentioned
in scction 27.

29. The Crown Agents shall, for the purpose of forming
such sinking fund, from time to time invest so much of the
money so remitted to them as aforesaid as is not required for
the payment of interest for the current half-year in the purchase
of such securities as may from time to time be approved by His
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, and shall
also invest the dividends, interest or produce of such investments
in the purchase of like securities, and may from time to time,
with the approval of the Secretary of State, change any such
investments, and shall hold such fund in trust for repayment of

As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





the principal moneys for the time being represented by the
inscribed stock.

30. In case any sinking fund provided for by this Ordinance
is insufficient for the payment of all the principal moneys
borrowed under the authority of this Ordinance at the time the
same becomes due, the Governor shall make good the deficiency
out of the general revenues and assets of the Colony.
All expenses of or incidental to the management of any
sinking fund, or to the payment of the principal moneys
borrowed, shall be paid out of the sinking fund.

32. The Governor shall also have the following powers and
authorities-

(a) he may authorize the Crown Agents when issuing any
loan in the form of debentures to declare that such debentures
will be convertible into inscribed stock at such dates and on
such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Crown
Agents at the time of the issue of the debentures;

(b) he may declare all or any of the Hong Kong loans,
whether existing in the form of stock or debentures, to be
convertible into inscribed stock, to be issued under the provisions
of this Ordinance;

(c) he may authorize the creation and issue of such an
amount of inscribed stock in exchange for the securities held for
such loans as may be necessary.

(d) he may authorize the creation and sale of any such
inscribed stock or debentures for the purpose of raising money
for redeeming any outstanding loans, for paying any expense
in the creation of inscribed stock and otherwise for carrying out
the provisions of this Ordinance;

(e) any conversion so authorized may be effected either by
an arrangement with the holders of existing securities or by

Aa amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939,





purchase thereof out of moneys raised by the sale of inscribed
stock, or partly in one way and partly in the other.

33. Nothing in this Ordinance contained shall authorize an
increase of the capital or of the anrjual charge on any loan,
except-

(a) when securities exchanged for inscribed stock bear a rate
of interest not less than the inscribed stock, an additional amount
of inscribed stock may be created and issued to make up the
difference in saleable value between the securities and the
inscribed stock;

(b) in the case of the conversion of securities into inscribed
stock the Crown Agents shall issue such an amount of inscribed
stock as may be required to defray the stamp duties and all
other expenses incidental to the conversion;

(c) in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be
prescribed under section 32 (a).

34. The securities exchanged or otherwise converted into
inscribed stock under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be
forthwith cancelled by the Crown Agents and the debentures
surrendered shall be cancelled and transmitted to the Governor.

35. The trustees of any sinking fund appointed under this
Ordinance, and acting under any Ordinance authorizing the
issue of any securities which may be exchanged into inscribed
stock or cancelled or purchased under the provisions of this
Ordinance, shall determine what amount of the sinking fund held
by them and created for repayment of such securities shall be
released, and in the determination of such question the trustees
shall take into consideration the value of the whole investments
held by them an account of such Sinking fund, the amount of
the debt. remaining a charge on such sinking fund, and such
matters as the trustees may think fit to take into account.

36. So much of any sinking fund as may be released shall
either be transferr unto the trustees of the inscribed stock
sinking fund or be disposed of in such a manner as the
Governor, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council,
may direct.

As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.





37. The Crown Agents may, from time to time at the request
of the Governor, make arrangements for all or any of the
following things-

(i) for inscribing stock in their books,

(2) for managing the creation, inscription and issue of
inscribed stocks;

(3) for effecting the conversion of loans into inscribed stock;

(4) for paying interest on inscribed stock and managing the
transfers thereof;

(5) for issuing inscribed stock certificates to bearer and as
often as occasion shall require reinscribing them.

38. This Ordinance shall be applicable only to the raising
of loans in England, and nothing in this Ordinance contained
shall prevent the raising of loans in the Colony upon such terms
and conditions as shall be specified in any Ordinance authorizing
the raising of such loans.

39. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in
this Ordinance, if at any time the trustees of the sinking fund
of any loan issued or to be issued under the provisions of this
Ordinance (other than a debenture loan redeemable by annual
drawings or by purchase in the market) are satisfied that the
value of the fund will be sufficient with further accumulations
of interest but without further payments of contributions to
enable the loan to be redeemed out of the proceeds of the sinking
fund when the same falls due to be redeemed, the Governor may
with the approval of the Secretary of State suspend further
payments of contributions to the said sinking fund : Provided
always that contributions to the sinking fund shall be
recommenced if the trpstees at any time inform the Governor
that it is necessary.

40. Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect the rights of any
person who holds stock or bonds issued under the authority of
the General Loan and Inscribed Stock Ordinance, 1893.

As amended by No. 19 of 1927 [4.11.27]
As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939.
[Originally No. 7 of 1913. No. 19 of 1927. Law Rev. Ord., 1939.] 40 & 41 Vict. C. 59; 55 & 56 Vict. C. 35; 63 & 64 Vict. C. 62; 24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 47. Short title. Interpretation. Loans to be raised by debentures or inscribed stock. Loans to be a charge upon general revenue. Borrowing upon debentures. Amount of each debenture. Debentures may be redeemed by annual drawings or by purchase in the market or on a fixed date. Interest coupons. Form of debenture and coupons. Debentures and coupons transferable by delivery. Registry of debentures. payment of interest. Mode of providing for payment of interest on debentures. Further sums to be remitted for the redemption of the debentures. Application of sinking fund. Creation of sinking fund for redemption of debentures payable on a fixed date. Disposal of sinking fund when debentures are redeemed by purchase or by annual drawings. Appointment of day for drawing of debentures. Notice of time and place appointed for drawing. mode of drawing. Notice of debentures drawn for redemption. Payment of drawn debentures. Cesser of interest from day appointed for payment of principal. Redeemed debentures to be cancelled. Borrowing upon inscribed stock. 40 & 41 Vict. C. 59; 55 & 56 Vict. C. 35; 63 & 64 Vict. c. 62; 24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 47. When the principal is to be repaid. Mode of providing for the payment of interest on inscribed stock. Mode of providing for payment of principal of inscribed stock. Creation of sinking fund. Charge upon general revenue. Expenses to be paid out of sinking fund. Powers of Governor. Debentures convertible into inscribed stock on conditions prescribed by Crown Agents at time of issue. Conversion of loans generally. Creation and issue of stock in exchange for other securities. Creation and sale of inscribed stock or debentures to raise loans and for other purposes. Arrangements for conversion. Exchange of securities for inscribed stock. Converted securities to be cancelled. Trustees to apportion amount of sinking fund released by conversion. Sinking fund release. How to be disposed of. Creation, inscription, issue, conversion and transfer of inscribed stock. Raising of loans in Hong Kong. Cesser of sinking fund contributions. Saving clause. Ordinance No. 1 of 1893.

[Originally No. 7 of 1913. No. 19 of 1927. Law Rev. Ord., 1939.] 40 & 41 Vict. C. 59; 55 & 56 Vict. C. 35; 63 & 64 Vict. C. 62; 24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 47. Short title. Interpretation. Loans to be raised by debentures or inscribed stock. Loans to be a charge upon general revenue. Borrowing upon debentures. Amount of each debenture. Debentures may be redeemed by annual drawings or by purchase in the market or on a fixed date. Interest coupons. Form of debenture and coupons. Debentures and coupons transferable by delivery. Registry of debentures. payment of interest. Mode of providing for payment of interest on debentures. Further sums to be remitted for the redemption of the debentures. Application of sinking fund. Creation of sinking fund for redemption of debentures payable on a fixed date. Disposal of sinking fund when debentures are redeemed by purchase or by annual drawings. Appointment of day for drawing of debentures. Notice of time and place appointed for drawing. mode of drawing. Notice of debentures drawn for redemption. Payment of drawn debentures. Cesser of interest from day appointed for payment of principal. Redeemed debentures to be cancelled. Borrowing upon inscribed stock. 40 & 41 Vict. C. 59; 55 & 56 Vict. C. 35; 63 & 64 Vict. c. 62; 24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 47. When the principal is to be repaid. Mode of providing for the payment of interest on inscribed stock. Mode of providing for payment of principal of inscribed stock. Creation of sinking fund. Charge upon general revenue. Expenses to be paid out of sinking fund. Powers of Governor. Debentures convertible into inscribed stock on conditions prescribed by Crown Agents at time of issue. Conversion of loans generally. Creation and issue of stock in exchange for other securities. Creation and sale of inscribed stock or debentures to raise loans and for other purposes. Arrangements for conversion. Exchange of securities for inscribed stock. Converted securities to be cancelled. Trustees to apportion amount of sinking fund released by conversion. Sinking fund release. How to be disposed of. Creation, inscription, issue, conversion and transfer of inscribed stock. Raising of loans in Hong Kong. Cesser of sinking fund contributions. Saving clause. Ordinance No. 1 of 1893.

https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/1527

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