DOMINION LEGISLATION—INDIA 851

Directors must disclose their interest in any
contract and are prohibited from voting on
such a contract. Where a company enters into
a contract for the appointment of a manager
in which contract any director is interested,
the terms of the contract must be communicated
to every member of the company. Every
agent of a public company who enters into a
contract on behalf of the company in which
the company is an undisclosed principal, must
file with the company an abstract of the terms
of the contract, which must be laid before the
directors at their next meeting.
Amending Act, No. 42 of 1920 makes s. 91B of the preceding
Act (prohibition of voting by a director interested in a contract)
r10t applicable to a private company.

3

THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA.
The Companies Act, 1926, which came into operation on the
tst January, 1927, set up for the first time a uniform Company
Law for all the Provinces of the Union of South Africa, which had
hitherto been subject to different Provincial Acts. All the old
Provincial Acts have accordingly been repealed.

The new Act applies to all companies in every part of the Union,
and is based on the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908; but
there are a certain number of differences and special points
worthy of note.

The Registrar —A Companies Registration Office is established
n Pretoria, and there is a Registrar of Comoanies appointed bv
the Governor-General.
Names.—The English Act of 1929 merely states that a company
may not be registered by a name identical with that by which a
company in existence is already registered, or so nearly resembles
it as to be calculated to deceive. The South African Act goes
further by forbidding the registration of a name identical with
that by which a company or a foreign company is already regis-
tered. A ‘foreign company’ is defined as a company or associa-
tion of persons which has for its object the acquisition of gain and
1s registered or incorporated under the laws of a foreign country
which is defined as any state, country, colony, or territory, other
than the Union whether or not included in the British Empire.
Moreover, the Registrar may, except upon an order of the Court,
refuse to register a company by a name which, in his opinion, is
calculated to mislead the public or to cause annoyance or offence
to any person or class of persons or is suggestive of blasphemy or
indecency or a name representing an occupation or profession for
which personal qualifications are required.” A company may not,
without consent of the Governor-General, be registered by a name