Birmingham Chamber of Commerce: A meeting of the council of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday, at the Exchange; Mr. F. B. Goodman presiding -On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Tonks, Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P, was unanimously reappointed president of the Chamber. Mr. F. B. Goodman was re-elected chairman, Mr. H. C. Field vice-chairman, and Mr. W. M. Whitehead treasurer. The Commercial Bills Committee recommended the council to petition the House of Commons in favour of the Registration of Firms Bill and the County Courts Bill. Mr. R. A. Pinsent had been reappointed chairman for the ensuing year. In a special report the committee stated that they had carefully considered the Companies Bill, and felt that, subject to certain modifications, the bill should receive the council’s support. The difficulty in legislation of that class was to provide on the one hand adequate safeguards for inexperienced investors, and to avoid on the other restrictions which would limit enterprise and penalties which would deter responsible and capable men. The committee made a number of suggestions, which Mr. Pinsent explained to the council. As a trading community, there was one section which he thought would justify the bill being passed. It was a matter of choice whether they invested or not, but whether they traded was almost a matter of necessity, and they knew how serious it was where companies had debentures over their assets. Every company would be required to register all its debentures, and that register would be open to inspection. He suggested that its operation should be extended not merely to include ordinary debentures, but to mortgages on book debts. They would be sorry if investors were to think, by the passing of the bill, that investment in joint stock companies was an easy or safe matter. His experience was that there was perhaps no duty which businessmen discharged with so little care as the investment of their money. They were often more careful over the selection of an office boy than of the investment of their money (Laughter.) Others were tempted into investing by high rates of interest, while another motive was the selling of shares at a profit. To those the Act would offer no benefit. It offered protection to those who exercised care, and looked at their prospectuses, in that it was now compulsory to supply many subjects of information. The committee thought that the question of “goodwill” should be omitted, as being too great a restriction on company enterprise. The report was unanimously adopted in favour of the holding of Parliamentary elections in boroughs in one day, and in counties within a week. Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P. and Messrs. F. B. Good- man, H. C. Field, and J. W. Tonks were appointed delegates to attend the forthcoming Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire. The other business was of a routine character. …
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Referenced
GRO0738 Devonport: Richard Alfred Pinsent: 1852 – 1948