COMPANY HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 209, 4 September 1929, Page 13

COMPANY HISTORY.

HOW MOVEMENT GREW.

ADDRESS TO BUSINESSMEN.

In reviewing the history of company formation, Mr. B. L. Bagnall, speaking at yesterday's luncheon of the Karangahape Road Business Promotion Society, said that companies were first of all- merely adventures. Noah formed the first company.

The first Company Act was .passed in 1860, the speaker said. Various advances were made, until in 1903 there was passed the Act which allowed the private company. Generally speaking, though the company sometimes provided an opportunity for fraud, the progress of the company movement showed that it had been of . .benefit both to the community and to the trade as a whole. Speaking of the advantages of the company, Mr. Bagnall said that, .the fact that the ' liability was limited was of first importance. In this it was superior to the ordinary partnership. Further, the company secured the unbroken business connection even though the founder died.

The speaker discussed the respective merits of the public and private company, and said that more information was necessary on the prospectus of the public company.' An anomaly in the Company Act was that the word "bond" was never defined in the original ruling, and that to-day it might easily be a matter of contention.

Mr. Bagnall said that a Company Act amending bill was long overdue.