FORFEITED SHARES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 90, 16 April 1913, Page 7

FORFEITED SHARES.

SEVENTY THOUSAND FOR HALF-A-GUINEA.

Another instance of the weakness of the system of offering forfeited mining shares for sale by auction was illustrated this morning at Mr. J. Thornes' mart. A parcel of 9,338 shares in the May Queen mine was offered, bnt failing to elicit a bid had to be passed in. Had anyone present offered even one shilling the lot must have been knocked down, which would be poor encouragement to shareholders to pay the next call. Under existing circumstances, the shares revert to the Company, instead of being offered for sale ; on the market, in competition with those upon which calls have been paid. At Mr. R. C. Carr's mart, some 70,000 sbares in the Tairua Mines G.M. Company were knocked down for 10/6. These shares are compulsory in respect to limited liability mining companies. A clause of the Act reads as follows: — "In the case of forfeited shares in noliability companies, the .. directors may offer the same for auction on tbe condition that the shares may be withdrawn from sale if there' is not a bid equal to tbe amount of the unpaid call thereon, but in all these cases the shares shall be offered without reserve," If the same clause was applicable to limited liability mining companies, it would ensure that the shares were not sacrificed for anything that is bid at auction.