19 JANUARY 1991, Page 21

Changing the guard . . .

ANOTHER splendid Hong Kong row, rumbling, for the most part, below the surface, involves the oldest and grandest of the trading houses, Jardine Matheson. Some years ago Jardine quietly moved its domicile out of Hong Kong. Now the question is whether its shares will fly away, too. They are, of course, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange — but that exchange has new rules and new rulers, and a brand-new securities commission on American lines to keep an eye on it. Jardine's friends say that it fears that after 1997 these new rules and new powers could be used arbitarily against it. Its enemies say that the takeover code will not let it do what it wants.