THE ALLEGED "SALTING" OF FOLEY'S EXTENDED.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10870, 21 January 1901, Page 3

THE ALLEGED "SALTING" OF FOLEY'S EXTENDED.

THE PKOCEEDINGS AT THE KUMARA COURT. One of the greatest financial sufferers in the Foley's Extended claim was Mr Patrick Tansev, sharebroker, of Kumara who instituted "civil proceedings to recover the amount h* had sunk in the claim consequent on the representations of the prospectus. He did not succeed in getting judgment, and next proceeded against the prospectors, William Arthur Lawson, George Henry Lawson, and Edward Pring, charging them with having, between April Ist and November Ist, unlawfully conspired to defraud the public by placing gold in a claim known as Foley's Extended, and falsely representing that such gold was the natural product of the ground. The case opened on the Bth inst., and closed on the 11th, with the committal of the accused for trial at the sitting of the District Court, to be held at Greymouth on February 15th.

Only the evidence for the prosecution was heard, the accused reserving their defence. Mr Han nan, with him Mr Byrne, appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Guinness, with him Mr Murdoch, appeared for the defendants. From the very full report of the evidence which appeared in the "Greymouth Star" the following salient points have been extracted :

P. Tansey stated that in May last, acting for Mr George Neill, of Dunedin, he saw the Lawson brothers respecting the purchase of Foley's Extended claim. It was decided to prospect it before concluding the purchase, and the Lawsons and Edward Pring were engaged by Tansey to do the work—Tansey being unaware at the time that Pring was a halfbrother of the Lawsons. Two shafts were sunk, and the prospectors produced 2dwt 13gs of gold, which they stated had been washed from one and a half yards from each shaft— ldwt Dgs from one, and ldwt 4gs from the other. The gold was sent to Mr Neill, and at the time of the trial could not be produced, as it had been sent out of the colony. The Lawsons stated that if they had got further down the ground would have gone 20gs to the yard from top to bottom. The claim waa then purchased, and the flotation of the Company proceeded with. About the middle of September Tansey suggested that the claim should be prospected again on account of rumours to the effect that the prospect obtained wee "too good to be true." The Laweons at fir3t objected, holding that it had been sufficitntly prospected, but they ultimately agreed to the proposal, though they refused to bear any of the expense. Four men were engaged, including Pring, of whose relationship with the vendors of the claim Tansey was still ignorant. Carlsson, one of the prospectors, handed Tansey 2dwt of gold, which was represented to be the product of half a load of stuff from the bottom. Carlsson told Tansey that in the top stuff he had got a few fine colours, but had been surprised at the large result got after streaming it down in a box. Rodgers, another of the prospectors, sunk the next shaft, and produced ldwt of gold. Messrs Tansey. Mcllrov, Byrne, and Dr. Scott, in view of the result of this second prospecting, took up between them 950 of the 1300 contributing shares in Foley s Extended, and Tansey spoke to the Lawsons about their taking up a portion of the contributing shares. At first they were rot disposed to do so, but in a day or two they took up 100 shares between them, but told Tansey they would sell them as soon as they went to a premium. A few weeks later the Lawsons spoke of selling their paid-up shares at 20s each, and in order not to ruin the contributing stock by the placing of vendors shares on the market, Tansev, with Dr Scott and Messrs Ifcllroy and Byrne, decided to buy G. Lawson's interest. The syndicate paid G. Lawson £110 for hie paid-up" shares, £50 waa handed to him for a similar amount which was coming to him from the Company and £12 was paid for his interest in four other prospecting areae in the same locality as Foley's Extended. Immediately afterwards W. Lawson expressed the desire to sell his paid-up shares, and offered them at £200. at which price the syndicate bought them. Lawson gave as his reason for selling that he was going to Christchurch, and intended "picking up" a couple of horses. The result of these transactions was thet the syndicate were the owners of 1300 paid-uo shares, together with £200 due under the deed of orrtion. Both Laweons, before leaving for Chriitdrarcfe, instructed Tbsm? to buj lot

them Greenstone Gold Dredging Company's shares. He told them that ho thought it was strange that they should sell out of a claim averaging 20 grains to the load to buy into one yielding oniy about 5 J grains. Tansey further stated that the Lawsous sold their interest in the Foley's Creek claim for £400, in Brandy Jacks for £100; and these amounts added to what they made by selling their interests in *r"oley"3 Extended would total to about £875. All the claims mentioned had suspenued operations, having been proved total duffers. After purchasing the Lawsons' interest in Foley's Extended, the syndicate determined to prospect the claim on tao flat— the previous prospecting having been done near tile creek. Tansey's father did the prospecting, and in consequence of hia report Tansey telegraphed to Mr Nelll that the claim was a duffer, and asked him to stop all proceedings in connection with the cornpay. Tne evidence of John Joseph Thompson, accountant at tho Bank of New Zealand, Greymouth, Robert George Ward, accountant Union Bank of Australia, Greymouth, and John Fraher, clerk at the same bank, was to the effect that W. Lawson in September 7th sold loz 4dwt lSgTs of alluvial gold to the Bank of New Zealand; that about three or ten days afterwards he wanted to buy some gold—about one ounce —from the same bank, but was unsuccessful. On September 18th the accountant of the Union Bank bought lOdwt 18gr of gold from a stranger who gave his name as "Mark," and hie address as Kumara. Next day the same stranger purchased sd\vt from the same bank, and the accountant remarked to him that it was a strange transaction to sell gold on «ie day for £3 18s per ounce, and &uy it back the next day for £1 iper ounce. The accountant swore positively that the stranger was W. Lawsou. John Fraher, clerk in the Union Bank, who had known both the Lawsons for about ten years, stated that he had seen W. Lawson sell gold on September 18th to the accountant, and buy some the day following. William John Mcllroy, storekeeper, Kumara, stated that Pring was a half-brother to the Lawsons, and that his (witness's) wife was Pring"s sister. He gave evidence supporting the statements made by Tansey. Pring had been displeased when he learned that the second prospecting party was to be under Carlsson's charge and not his own.

T. V. Byrne, solicitor, Kumara, gave similar evidence to that of Tansey and Mcllroy. Tie had always believed the tests made were genuine, otherwise he would not have gone into the venture. When Tansey senior had demonstrated that the claim was a duffer witness had told Pring that the shafts had been salted, and asked him where the gold came from, but Pring had protested that he knew nothing of it. Both the Lawsons had advised him to sell out of Foley's Extended, and on one occasion George Lawson had told him the timber was very heavy, and that he could take him to places where bottom would be found at two feet. Most of the prospecting on the Foley's Creek claims had been under the management of Mr Fleming, who had employed the Lawsons. When the bad result of the last prospecting of Foley's Extended was made known the Foley's Creek Company employed Mr Duncan Bringans to prospect their claim, and as the result they cancelled all agreements in conjunction with it and also with Brandy Jacks. Witness knew of no independent persons who had obtained payable prospects in the locality of Foley's Creek, but knew of plenty who had not.

Charles Peter Car!s3en stated that with Pring and others he had prospected Foley's Extended. None of the prospects witness obtained would pay salt. Pring had tried dishes and always got better, prospects, and witness had been jealous that he could not "beat him. On January 7th witnees with another had visited the claim, baled out the water from the shaft where the 2dwts were got and took out ten dishes from top to bottom. He could not get one colour, and he reckoned the ground must have been "Baited"—-in fact he would swear it had been "salted," he had no doubt of it whatever.

Evidence was also given by Patrick Tansey, senior, as to the results of the final prospecting of Foley's Extended; and by Sydney Burrett, who gave details respecting the .prospecting of several claims in the vicinity of Foley's Extended, and r!so with regard to that claim.

This concluded the evidence, and after counsel had addressed the Court, the accused were committed for trial.