WAIHI GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 149, 24 June 1911, Page 8

WAIHI GOLD.

CHAIRMAN'S REPLY TO HIS CRITICS. " ENORMOUS POTENTIALITIES." NEW ZEALAND DIRECTOR ADDED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 19.

The annual meeting of the Waihi Gold Mining Company., which was expected io prove a somewhat stormy one, ended in a victory for the board of directors. The threatened opposition of the New Zealand shareholders' committee was withdrawn, and instead Mr. A. E. G. Rhodes was proposed as an additional director to represent the New Zealand shareholders on the London board,, and was unanimously elected. The meeting passed off very quietly, and the chairman was frequently applauded.

Presiding at the meeting, Mr. A. M. Michison unfolded the details of what he described as the first period of adversity which they had encountered so far, and further answered at length much of the criticism that had been levelled at tho management both in London and New Zealand. 'He urged that it had been impossible for Mr. Williams' report to have been pushed more quickly than had been done, and that cabled summaries would have been extremely misleading. The position of the board before January 19 was that they had known that to maintain an output of £68,000 monthly must be a tax upon the resources of the mine, but they had had no idea that there would be any question of reducing the tonnage to 1000 tons a day, so that tho report had come as a severe shock. There was not a shadow of a foundation, however, for the suggestion that the management or the directors had been in possession of private knowledge not communicated to the shareholders. At the time of the last general meeting he claimed that it was perfectly well known that the Martha lode had fallen oil in value, and many people had taken the view that the Edward and other lodes would not compensate for that deterioration, and had sold their shares.

Every foot of developmeni worx was exhibited on a specially prepared model. and some shareholders, who had exercised their free right of inspection, had taken a gloomy view of the situation, and had had the best of it so far. There had, it was true, been a considerable amount of inevitable leakage from the mine. Memgloomy view of the situation, and had had the best of it so far. There had, it was true, been a considerably amount of inevitable leakage from the mine. Members of the staff had been reticent and discreet, but they had no control over the workmen, and by the law of New Zealand every shareholder had a right to go down the mine and take an engineer ■with him if he chose. He could only say that the directors had faithfully carried out the policy approved by the shareholders of giving the fullest information in the offices of the company, and proposed in future that all cablegrams should he published simultaneously in London and New Zealand.

As to their future prospects, he feared \ that the Waihi reefs had not the stable characteristics which they had hoped' they possessed, but the potentialities ■were enormous. The chairman went on to speak of the development of the mine, pointing out that up to February 9 about 500,000 tons had been developed on the ninth lode, so that some extraordinary finds would be required to make that level anything like equal to the eighth. The possibilities of testing with the diamond drill at depth would, he said, be borne in mind. He went on to speak of the opposition with which the directors had to contend in maintaining their conservative attitude towards the finance of the mine, and, in particular, defended tae Hora Hora measure, on the ground that cheap power was of vital consequence if the mine were going to continue, and that the Hora Hora plant should earn a fair dividend apart from the mine.

The board had no objection, the chairman continued, to a much extended report on the mine than Mr. Richard had the time to make should tne shareholders so desire, and were willing to meet the representations of the New Zealand shareholders to the extent of adding one member closely in touch with New Zealand to the board, and were accordingly prepared to faeartily welcome Mr. Arthur Rhodes. He characterised as grotesque fables talk of gigantic Stock Exchange transactions. All officials of the company were absolutely prohibited from trafficking in shares, and, as to the directors, all their shares had invaHably been held as investments.

Sir Wesfcby B. Perceval seconded the adoption of the report, and it was unanimously agreed to. MR. RHODES' STATEMENT. In the course the discussion which followed the chairman's speech, Mr. G. Freeman said he very seldom 'had occasion to criticise the policy of the board, but on this occasion he must certainly take exception to the very gloomy tone of the directors' circular of January 27. As to Mr. Williams' report not having been cabled, he would have thought in view of its great importance, and the fact that this great and influential company, it should have been cabled in exienso. As to the reduction of tonnage, Mr. Williams had suggested thb reduction to 1000 tons a day by the end of 1911, but he added that in the event of good ore developments there would be no need for such reduction. He (Mr. Freeman) could not quite understand why the directors came to the decision to reduce the tonnage at once. Then the ore reserves were given, at 1,668,000 tons, equal to five years' work at 100 tons a day, but the board said, or inferred, that this tonnage would give a dividend of 2/ a quarter for two years only, and he could not understand how they came to that conclusion. In the report, also, the directors appeared to take an unnecessary gloomy and pessimistic view as regarded the water and the pumps. Finajj««, with regard to tie finances of the company, he toad ' expected to hear the chairman say that the directors had taken steps to bring about some reduction in the expenses. Mr. A. E. G. Rhodes said that as his name had been mentioned, he ought, perhaps, to say a few words about fhe New Zealand shareholders. Some time ago he was asked to allow himself to Dβ nominated as a director, and agreed. On his way to England he called at Wellington, and had an interview -with; the committee there. They asked him; to see Mr. Topham on arriving in England, and u3e his discretion as to what was best to be done. On arriving in England, a week ago, he went to see Mr. Topham, who told him he desired to retire from the representation of the New Zealand shareholders. On that he did what he thought was tiest, and satisfied himself there iwas no chance of carrying the original resolution sent pver-

from New Zealand, and removing the , board to New Zealand. He called upon the chairman of the company, and had several interviews with him, dhrring which he was informed by the chairman that ihe was quite willing that he (Mr. Rhodes) should be appointed a director. The resolution, of -which notice had. ibeen given, connected' with Mr. Topham's name, would not he moved. (Hear,

hear, j Mr.'Askwith asked what Mr. Williams' position was at the mine. The chairman said he. was underground manager, and was the person best acquainted with the underground position. HALF-YEARLY MEETINGS SUGGESTED. Captain Slack said he bad .been a shareholder of the Company for over 20 years, and during recent years, when Mr. Michison had been Chairman, he had always felt the greatest confidence in every word that gentleman uttered at the meetings. He thought it might be an advantage if they had half-yearly meetings, so that the directors and shareholders would be in closer touch. Mr. R. C. C. Hockley expressed the view that the Board had acted throughout this unfortunate business in keeping with the best traditions of company directors in the city. He was not in favour of diamond drill borings, as the results were too uncertain. Ml*. Bayldon .said that as a mining man of some 40 years' experience he could say that the. proper thing was being done. They wanted no more reports; they wanted prospecting and they wanted depth. That was the only way to prove the Waihi mine. He had known the Waihi mine from its inception; indeed, he knew the place before ' there was a mine there, and he had visitled the mine" hundreds of times, and was therefore competent to speak upon it.

The Chairman said the question of expenses was always thoroughly looked into; they were carefully considered in every way, and always would be. With regard to half-yearly meetings, the Board would consider the suggestion, but he was sure the gentleman who proposed, it did not wish to embarrass the directors. Shareholders had no idea of the trouble it took to get all the information for a meeting of the shareholders, •but if they thought it would do any good they would be most happy. The Hora Hora scheme they hoped would be working in two years; it would be of considerable use to them and save them a lot of expenditure.

The resolution to adopt the report and accounts was carried unanimously.

THE CHAIRMAN RE-ELECTED. Mr. H. E. Beddington, who moved the re-election of the Chairman, remarked that they 'were fortunate in the fact that the. post was occupied by a gentleman of such conspicuous ability and such very great industry. j Mr. William Bristow seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. The Chairman then moved a resolution expressing the approval of the name of Mr. A. E. G. Rhodes as an additional director, to be appointed by the Board under article 69.

Sir Westby Perceval, in seconding the resolution, said he thought it only right that the New Zealand shareholders should have additional representation on the Board. As he represented them also, he thought it right to say that although they had behaved very foolishly, and the resolutions they sent forward were ridiculous, for all that they had a substantial interest in the Company, they -were not aole to attend the annual meetings, and it was only right that their grievances, "whether real or imaginary, should l>e put before the directors, who would be in sympathy and would endeavour to make certain that any real grievance was remedied. He ■had known Mr. Ithodes for over 40 years, and he could assure the meeting that that gentleman was in every way competent to fill th-e position. JMr. Ithodes was not only capable, but (he need ; hardly add) of unblemished honour. I Personally, he would be proud to act iwith Mr. Rhodes, and he was sure all the members of the Board, when they had got to know him, would welcome him as a capable coadjutor.

T-he resolution -was carried unanimous

A vote of thanks to tho Chairman ter mmated the proceedings.

The resolution which was to have been moved on 'behalf of the New Zealand shareholders, and which was withdrawn, was to the effect that the Board of Directors should in future consist of not less than three or more than five, and that the registered of&ee of the Company should be removed to New Zealand to save the -large amount of British taxation.