THE COMMISSIONERS FLAT GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10986, 8 June 1901, Page 5

THE COMMISSIONERS FLAT GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Ed, and they clid not want to have the dredge lying high, and dry. ( The Chairman"said that the directors vctmld, bo doubt, take the matter into consideration. >- Mr S. H. Graves'asked what. water rights had been secured by the purchase of .Maine and party's claim? 1 The Chairman said the" directors were anxious t<f find oat vrhst they were, but'had cot fei done po. ai though they had communicated with the Coast director on the subject. - • - Mr Graves said his recollection of the claim ' was that Maine and party obtained water for their workings from the Hutchison Brothers, but he had nexer Heard of Maine and party possessing any actual water rights. Mr Ferry said he really did not know what water rights Maine and party had possessed. He knew they obtained, their water from the Hutchison Brothers, but did not know if there was an arrangement Vetweea them to supply the water at a certain rate. If their pontoons were to be placed on the place proposed the company should have an agreement as to the price to be paid for it with the Hutchison Brothers. The report and balance sheet were adopted. Before proceeding to the election of directors, a question arose as to whether or not Mr Perry should move the motions of which he had given notice. These were, briefly, that the registered office of the company be in the town of Hokitika; that the directors be six in number, three to be resident in Christchurch, and three in Hokitika; and that the Hokitika directors be Messrs T. W. Beere, H. L. Michel, and P. J. Perry. It wae decided to take Mr Perry's motions, but before he moved them a legal opinion, from Messrs Meares and Williams was read, which was t>6 the effect that the proposal contained in the first • motion could only be effected by a special Act of the Legislature, as the

meeting to effect the proposals contained in the second and.third motions, and if it were agreed to, and there were eight directors on the board, it could not be carried into effect, as bo provision was made for the. retirement of any of the directors. As it could not be seen how the vacancies would occur, Messrs Meares and "Williams could not see how the gentlemen mentioned in the third motion could be elected directors. The Chairman asked if Mr Perry wished to go on with his motions in; the face of the legal opinion. Mr. Perry said no, but he felt in an awkward position "if he withdrew them, because they' had been drawn up by shareholders representing 4800 shares. He would like the chairman to rule the first one out of order. The chairman ruled the first motion out of order. Mr Perry then withdrew the other two. He nominated Mr Graves as a director. Mr C. K. Meredith-Kaye seconded the nomination. Mr Perry nominated Mr H. L. Michel, of Hokitika, as a director, and said that whilst the dredge was under construction the com-' pany should bo well represented on the Coast. They would agree, he thought, that it would be absurd if a land company three miles outside Christ-church was managed from Hokitika; and the company's claim was that distance from Hokitika, and could be better conducted by men on the spot until the dredge was complete. If the building of the pontoons had been left to local men he considered that the shareholders would have been saved £200, ac the calling for tenders for the timber for the pontoons and for the construction of the pontoons together was not economical. * The directors might have .been so advised by the engineers. In the case of the Prince of Wales Company £500 had been saved by calling separato tenders. j Mr-Graves seconded the nomination, and nominated Mr Perry. Mr Dickon seconded the latter nomination. The Chairman said that the meeting would sco that three gentlemen had been nominated, and that the two directors who had served the company during the past year would go out of office—the whole thing was evident on the face of it. He* wished to say one thing, and that was that when the company was originally formed it had been distinctly understood, and they had floated the shares partly by stating that no broker should be allowed on " the directorate. Mr Perry had, unfortunately, when standing for the position of director, had the word "sharebroker" on it, although he knew that the word on the card did not make him a sharebroker; but that had been the reason why he had not been elected. Mr Grave? had been a party to the formation of the company, and under the circumstances he (the speaker) feit that Mr Graves's position was a most peculiar one. Mr Graves had obtained as many proxies as he cou.d and came to the meeting in order to upset arrangements,' It would be a bad < thing for Christchurch, and for dredging as whole if Boards of Directors were filled by those whose interests it was, to buy and sell shares. It seemed to him a very serious condition of things, so far as he was concerned. He would withdraw his name from the nominations and withdraw from the contest of the election altogether. . Mr Graves said.that, so far as he remembered, the question of sharebrokera taking a position on the directorate had nothing to do with the formation of the company—he did not think that it had come up until after the formation of the conxpany. So far he did not think the chairman had been accurate, though he did not impute that he had made an intentional misstatement. With regard to the question of the appointment of sharebrokers on the directorate he quite agreed that what the chairman had said at the time was quite right about Mr P en "y> ana that it had also been the reason for Mr Arrowsmith resigning from the directorate At that time they had been under the impression that there wa« a legal disability in connection with sharebrokers being on directorates. He was inclined to think that they were inclined to make a bogey of the desirabifity, or otherwise, of brokers being directors, and that there was not much danger in their holding such positions as was imagined. He quite cgreed with the chairman's remarks.if they applied to saarebrokers retaining seats on directorates after a tiredge started actual work, but he could not see that it could make any difference whatever* during the time of the construction of the dredge. There was no information to be obtained that all could not obtain, and he could not see how he could benefit himself as against anyone else until the company was really at work. He tell the meeting, as he had told one of the directors,' Mr A. H. Anderson, that he certainly would not dream of holding his position of director after the company got to work. It waa on that condition he had joined ihe directorate of the Montgomery's Terrace Hydraulic Sluicing Company. Quite honestly he saw no reason, under ttie circumstances why a ] shareoroker should not be on the board of directors.. He could gain nothing by it until the company started work. Until then there was no trafficking in shares, or what traffick- : ing thero was it was a market without know- ' ledge, except with regard to contracts and the 1 progress of the dredge—information that was • available to everyone. Mr J. P. Miles, the other retiring director who offered hinislf for re-election, also with' * drew his nomination. The chairman then declared Messrs S H 1 Graves (Christohurch), P. J. P erry (Hokitika),' j « kM llchel (Hok,tik ») elected directors! Messrs Olhvier Brothers were re-appointed auditors.. • . "* ( This closed the proceedings, no votee of thanks being proposed. \

SHAREBROKERS AS DIRECTORS. The first annual meeting of the Commissioner's Flat Gold Dredging Company was held at the registered- office of the com- , piwiy yesterday, Dr. Jennings,- chairman of directors, presiding. There were twelve shareholders present, and thirty-eight were represented by proxies. The annual report stated that the following contracts had been let:—For pontoons, £1800; for machinery, £3949; and for engines and pump, £443. A special report bad been obtained from Mr Duncan Bringans with respect to the allegation that heavy boulders existed in the claim. Mr Bringans, stated that he found that no BUch boulders existed, and that, as far as he could ascertain, there was no obstacle to dredging. Upon the advice and ' request of oil the shareholders, on the West Coast, and of the company's engineer, the direc- : tors purchased the rights over Maine's claim, i and with it certain water rights. The retiring ! directors, who offered themselves for re-elec-tion, were Dr. Jennings and Mr J. F. Miles, i The balance sheet showed that on April i 30th the calls outstanding amounted to £1348 15s. The cash onAdeposit and the ba.ance at the bank on thjfeame date amounted to ' £3C92 2* 2d. I . ~ _ ■ , | In moving tbe adoption of the report and . balance sheet, the Chairman pointed out that, as tlie company was not far advanced, there was nothing very much to say about it. The delays had been numerous, but had been fully explained in the annual report or the circulars sent from time to time to the. shareholders. Tho directors hoped," if the .engineer's estimate was reasonable, to have the dredge working somewhere about next February, ana that the total cost of the dredge would be about £7492, made up aa follows:—Pontoons, £1800; machinery, £3949; engines and pump, £«3; j transport of machinery (probably over- | estimated), £300; erection thereof, £750; housing (probably), £1250. Already £1000 of their capital had gone in preliminary expenses, and that day they had accepted a tender of £100 for excavating a dam. Roughly speaking, out j " of their total capital they had £_HOO to come and go upon, which, in view of the experi- j ' ences of other dredging companies, was a J vsry satisfactory position. By an oversight j "it had not been mentioned in the report that _ 1 there was a vacancy on the directorate caused , by a resignation, and consequently three instead .of two directora would require to be ' elected. . . ~ '..'* ' Mr P. J. Perry, in seconding the motion, said if the telegram accepting the tenoer for I J the excavation of the dam had not been sent, I he would suggest that it be held back. The j 1 place for the dam had been selected by Mr j 1 Bringans and himself, and Mr M'Queen had _ agreed that it was the best place to float the dredge. Since then they had had dirring the last few weeks, a tremendous rainfall on the * Coast, and he had visited the propesed site ! ] nearly every day. As a result he had ascer- t < tamed that the hole -diere the dam waa to ' i be erected did not hold the water, being, he ( was very much afraid, drained by the old -\ workings outside the lower boundary of the i claim. Before any tender was _accepted he j ■ suggested that the company's engineer should } J be instructed to fill the hole with water and j block up Maine's tail race, and ascertain for j ( certain if the ground would hold the water. . j Maine's tail race would have to be blocked ' , kter on, so that expense might as well be _ met now as in the future. He had asked " both "Sir Roberts and Mr M'Queen if they * were satisfied with the site chosen for the ' dam. and both had agreed that they vr.re. t If, therefore, the d«m was built there, and it . WfS afterwards found that the ground would not hold the water, he would hold the engineers responsible. The Chairman asked what responsibility € the-' engineers could havo in the matter, beyond the damage done to their reputations? ■' Mr Perry said, if the engineers advised I that the pontoons should be placed in a j certain spot, which was afterwards found j

company had no power to make the proposed alteration; and that it would be necessary to adopt the cumbersome method of a special

unable to hold the water, he thought they { would be responsible. It was- from what Iho had learned from miners and from Mr j Gordon, the chairman ol the Rivers Commission, that made him anxious that no mistake should be made. There was no doubt [ that once bottom was reached the ground | would hold water at the proposed site of the dam, but it would be some time before. bottom waa reached after the dredge start. I