HOW TO DEVELOP OUR QUARTZ

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 26, 11 May 1870, Page 5

HOW TO DEVELOP OUR QUARTZ

REEFS.—{No. lIL, and Conolusioh. > —o— This article has been held baok for some time, in the hope that recommendations made in the preceding ones as to the formation of companies would be adopted. This has not been the case, arising chiefly from the fact that the ideas of shareholders as to the value of their claims would not allow them to consider any other plan thau that of selling them. There have always been more shares offering for private sal© than buyers, and, as pointed out before, though the high price thus occasionally obtained raised the spirits of shareholders for a time, the sales did not introduce fresh working capital. Thus depending upon chance opportunities, shareholders, as a body, have neglected to secure the favourable feeling that once so publicly existed. Capital might easily have been obtained at the first opening of the reefs, if anything like unanimity of action had existed amongst holders of claims. As stated, they preferred taking a narrower view of the position, which many of them must now regret. It is no reply to say that one company has been started upon the limited liability principle : one swallow does not make a summer. The question, then, is, is it too late to take steps that will promote something like combined action, and thus retrieve the deficiencies of the past ?—following, we make b*old to say, upon the neglect of the advice tendered in the columns of this journal. We venture to say, not if the parties interested will unite and actively join themselves to the movement. It is, in the first place, necessary to reacquire public confidence to a full extent, and this could, in our opinion, be best achieved by the formation of a company under the Joint Stock Companies Act—not the Mining Act—with a capital say of £IO,OOO : this company to act in the capacity of a trust and promoting association. It would have a large field before it. Its duties would chieily be in assisting claimholders who were anxious to amalgamate their claims and work them economically, upon the plan sketched in a former article, or one similar to it. Care would be taken by such company to examine as fully as possible into the merits of the scheme, and, as far as practicable, into the prospects of claim or claims. The company might be empowered to assist the holders of such amalgamated claims, or of single claims, by advancing money on account of machinery, or on account of working expenses or otherwise, as might be deemed desirable ; the company to be limited by its deed of association from advancing more than a fixed amount in any one venture. It could then, if the speculation was a promising one, or even before any considerable advance of capital beyond the outlay for testing the bond fides of the speculation, introduce a company under its guarantee to the mere public market. In this, the more limited scope of its investments, but perhaps the more important of its functions hereafter, it would find a profitable field. As the very interest of the company would lie in testing searchingly the claims offered to it, rather by work performed under the direction of its own engineer or surveyoi, or by the subsidising of prospecting trials by the claim-holders under similar directions, the public would feel increased confidence in taking shares in the schemes recommended by it. The investor's time would be saved : he would certainly have to pay something for the guarantee of the company, either in the shape of a bonus of shares or capital, but then the public would feel in return that every attempt to arrive at a sound conclusion had been made. The claim-holder would have to part with a fair interest in his claim, which generally speaking would really have been de- <. veloped and increased in value by the company's efforts. The shareholders who already have a valuable claim —a claim to» valuable for the company to deal with, except under some special arrangement—would be benefited by its functions and action. He would find his property share in the general prosperity, and should sup.' port the formation of such a company. It is impossible to enter into full details of the many advantages that would arise from the existence of such a company in the province. It would not, however, it may be observed, be necessary to raise the full capital—one-third of the capital would be sufficient to commence operations with ; and if successful in its earlier movements, it could obtain the command of capital by itself, acting as a deposit bank for investors willing to loan on mining property generally—thus extending both, let us hope, the usefulness as well as the sphere of its operations. The management would not be a costly affair, consisting of a board, a secretary, and an engineer. That a company of this kind could be formed, and become a favorite stock, may be accepted as a fact. But it is absolutely necessary that men of standing and business qualifications should take the initiative. Some years ago, just before the West Coast rush took place, a company based upon a foundation like the one here described was in the process of being floated. That rush of course destroyed the opportunity. A trust company of a like nature has been formed in another colony. It is for those who are interested in quartz-mining pursuits th*)t these articles have been written, and it is now for them to adopt or not the suggestions that have been thrown out in them. The chief objects advanced in them have been —lst. The obtaining of a better class of titles by leases ; 2nd. The amalgamation of claims, so as to lessen and at the same time more evenly distribute the cost of prospecting ; 3rd. The formation of companies, whereby machinery might be readily procured ; 4th. The formation of a trust and guarantee company, worked by effective officers, whose advantage it would be to consult the interests of both investors and shareholders. In closing, then, these articles, we think we have redeemed the promises with which we set out.

I Wo believe that the Shotover bridge will in all probability be opened for traffic on or about the 14th inat., although the formal opening will not take place till the 24th inat.