NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 32, 8 February 1899, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, December 31,

The ordinary general meetings of the Progress Mines of New Zealand and the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand occurred on Wednesday under the presidency of Sir Westby Percival, at the offices 11, Cornhill, E.G.. In moving the adoption of the report and accounts, Sir Westby remarked that the latter covered the period from the registration of the Company, in December, 1896, to September 17th, 1898, and showed a net profit of £14,833, which the directors recommended should be carried forward to next account. The shareholders signiued their acceptance of the report and accounts, and then transfbrmed themselves into an extraordinary meeting, at which they adopted the following resolutions, nem con: —

'That the capital of the Company be increased from £250,000 to £275,000 by the creation of 25,000 new shares of &1 each, ranking equally with the present shares in the capital of the Company, and that the said new shares be issued at such tinie 6r times and at such price or prices as regards premium or otherwise^ and in such in&niier and to such persons, and generally iipon such terms as the directors may from time to time determine.'

The meeting then resolved into the 'ordinary general' of the Consolidated Goldfields, Limited. Sir Westby, for a start, indulged his audience with a review of the progress of the Company from its inception. He said the Company was registered in February, 1596, and the whole of the capital, namely, £226,000, was subscribed for in cash, no shares being given to either promoters, underwriters, or vendors, The actual cash available for the use lof the Company was, as a matter of fact, augmented beyond the authorised amount of £225,000 by the issue of 50,000 of their shares at a premium of 10/ each, the whole of which premium went int6 the coffers of the Company. Referring to the subsidiary companies Iney had formed and their prospects, the chairman said shareholders know that it took a considerable time to open out and equip a mine, hence the delay they had experienced in bringing their properties to the. productive stage, which was the Condition precedent to areturn to shareholders. They had now reached that stage, and at the next meeting it would in all probability be his pleasing duty to ask their sanction to the payment of a dividend. The subsidiary companies they had formed and furnished with working capital were the Progress Mines, the Humphreys Hydraulic Sluicing Co.. and the Welcome Goldmining Co. The report was adopted. HAUHAKI ASSOCIATED. The first general meeting of the reconstructed Hauraki Associated Company took place on Thursday, under the chairmanship of Mr Korman P. TrOnfcOm. That gentleman thought the shareholders 'might look forward with confidence to.bright prospects at no di£t£nt date,' and assured them that they might place the utmost reliance in their manager, Mr Shepherd, and in the local committee. They were all large shareholders, and had paid for their shares, so their interests were identical with the proprietors in England. Having briefly reviewed the. figures of the balance-sheet, Mr Tronsom concluded thus: 'The cost of the erection of the battery has been exceedingly heavy, but your battery is certainly one of the most substantially equipped in the district. The water-race, I am advised upon excellent authority, would probably realise, if sold now, four times the amount which it is put down at in the balancesheet. You have a big mine. It is not a mine that can be rushed. We cannot give you big returns. They must come slowly, but come they will most surely. I have met several gentlemen from New Zealand, and one and all agfee that we have a very valuable mine.' A long discussion ensued, in which Mr Butcher complained that the management expenses were out of all proportion for a company of this description. The cost of erecting the battery was very heavy. Others also spoke in critical vein, and a suggestion was made that a committee should be formed. The Chairman said that the directors would be glad if Mr Butcher would join the Board in the interests of the shareholders. Eventually it was unanimously agreed that Messrs Swanson, Butcher, and Mackie be appointed a committee to confer with the directors upon the accounts, and the meeting was adjourned for one month to receive the committee's report. HAUHAKI SOUTH. The third ordinary meeting of. the. HauraJri South shareholders also took

place on Wednesday, the venue being Winchester House, and the presiding genius Mr G. F. Fulcher. Without ado the Chairman put the motion for the adoption of the report and accounts, these having been discussed ad nauseam on three or four previous occasions, and it. was unanimously agreed to. The next business was the election of directors, and the Chair- ; man having explained that Mr F. B. i Levin had been appointed in the place of Mr Daniel, resigned, said that Mr Ponto Leite, the retiring director, being eligible, offered himself for reelection. At the instance of several large cash shareholders, he (the chairman) pr6posed that Mr Leite should be replaced on the Board. Dr, PtOss immediately rose to propose that Mr DaWson and Mr DeversSuranierK should be appointed to represent the cash shareholders, but Mr F. C. Bowick pointed out that, Mr Summers' nomination Was not in accordance with the articles of association, and after some jartgHng, Mr Leite anfl Mr DawsOn were duly elected.