Among the pleasures of company law practice has been two decades of ever-improving service from our Companies Office. Their website has got steadily easier to use, many more things can be done on line, and charges have been substantially reduced.
Those responsible should be nominated for NBR Business Hall of Fame.
I was reminded this week of that sustained superb performance by an attempt to search a client company’s details on the UK’s Companies House register.
Here’s what came up each time –
"Access to the service is closed
Companies House is available from Monday to Saturday 07:00 – 12 Midnight UK Time
We are interested in your feedback on the availability of our on line services. Please click here to fill in our survey.
Eventually I managed to coincide with a time when they were operating. Negligible detail is obtainable without payment.
Out of curiousity I went to the feedback page on their operating hours. It asks for ticks on boxes to indicate extra opening hours desired.
What on earth is stopping their computers from answering queries 24/7?
My firm’s company search expert asked them some time ago. Their answer – "we need time to do back-up".
How do they stay an international financial centre?
RSS feeds available for 
My Aussie accountant mate was astounded at the Ministry of Economic Development’s web site.
Another unusual area where N.Z. is a world leader is our Totalisator Agency Board’s system. I had heard that it had been used for a man in Houhora to pay a man in Oban $1500 cash on a Sunday afternoon with no bank fees involved. Truly remarkable.