MINING NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 11678, 10 February 1902, Page 6

MINING NEWS.

The Perseverance No. 1 report 570z 12dwt for the week ended Saturday, February 8. The Meg and Annie report 520z sdwt for the week ended the Bth inst. The Empire (two dredges) report 450z 2dwt for the week ended Saturday last. The Success report 40oz Bdwt 9gr for 204 hours’ dredging. The Ettrick report 390z 17dwt for 149 hours’ work. The Golden Run report 31oz 17dwt for 121 hours. The Alexandra Eureka report oloz for the week ended February 8. The Earnscleugh No. 1 report 270z lOdwt for 118 hours’ dredging. The Molyneux Hydraulic report 25 oz 7dwt for 130 hours’ work. The Paterson’s Freehold report 230z for 130 hours. The Perseverance No. 2 report 220z 12dwt for four days’ dredging. The Chicago report 220z 2dwt Bgr for five days' work. The Golden Beach report 21oz lOdwt for 121 hours. The Happy Valley report 19oz 12dwtfor 120 hours’ dredging. The Ngapara No. 3 report 19oz Idwt for .156 hours’ work. The Manuherikia report 15oz 14dwt 6gr for 110 hours. The Majestic report 15oz 3dwt for the past week. The Otago report 14oz sdwt for last week. The Waikaka report lloz 12dwt for seventv-five liours’ dredging. The" Charlton Creek report lOoz lOdwt for 127 hours’ work. The Paul’s Beach report 7oz Sdwt for 128 hours. , The Waimuimi report 6oz Bdwt for ninety and a-half hours’ dredging. The Golden Run (pipes) report 40oz for the week’s work. , ~ The Golden Bed report o4oz sdwt for the week’s dredging. The following West Coast dredges report as under:—Greenstone Junction, 460z 18dwb, for 132 hours; No Town Creek, 360z for 123 hours; North Beach, 290z 12dwt for 130 hours; Erickson’s Rewaxd. 220z 6dwt for 128 hours; Maori Gully, 13oz for 200 hours; Greenstone Creek, 12oz sdwt for 115 hours; and the Caledonia, soz 7dwt for the week.

SHARE MARKET,

DUNEDIN EXCHANGE. Sales were made at the following prices on the above Exchange this morning : Enterprise, 29/6, 23/6; No Town Creek, 24/. OTAGO EXCHANGE. The following sales were effected this morning;— Alpine Consols, 19/3; Bendigo, 13 1 ; No Town Creek, 24/. Quotations Ahaara —Sel 2/6. Aldinga—■Sel 19/6. Alexandra Lead —Buy 4/3, sel o'. Alpine Consols —Buy 18/6, sel 20/. Alpine No. 22—Buy 22/3, sel 24/6. Bendigo—Buy 12/9, sel 14/. Boundary Creek —Sel 6/. Charlton Creek —Sel 20/. Cromwell —Buy 70/. Davis Bend —Sel 1/ dis. Dunstan Lead—Buy 6/6, sel 7/. Electric —Buv 38/6. Electric Extended—Bny 5/9, sel 6/9. Endeavor —Sel 15/3. First Chance—Buy 9/, sel 9/6. Fourteen-mile Beach—Buy 17/, sel 18/3. Gentle Annie—Sel 18/6. Cold Queen —Bny 3/6. Golden River —Buy 7/6, se] S'. Great Central —Sel 7/6. Greenstone Greek—Buy 25/, sel 26/6. Halfway House —Sel 11/. Hartley and Riley—Sel 47/6. Inchdale—Buy 15/3, sel 16/6. Junction Electric—Buy 22/6, sel 25/. Kelly and Casey—Sel 9/6. Leaning Rock—Buy 14/6, sel 15/3. Magnetic —Sel 8/. Meg and Annie —Buy 23/6. sel 24/6. Molyneux Kohinoor—Buy 2/3 dis. Monte Christo —Buy 28/, sel 30/6. Nelson Creek —Sel 55/6. No Town —Buy 23/9, sel 24/9. Olrig—Buy 12/, sel 13/. Bactolus —J3uy 34/. sel 35/6. Beeves’s Proprietary—Buy 15/. Rise and Shine—Buy 14/, sel 15/6. River Molyneux—Buy 6/, sel 8/. Royal Maori—Buy 16/0, sel 17'6. Sailor's Bend —Sel 36/. Trafalgar —Buy 23/. Upper Magnetic—Buy 4/, sel 4/6 Victory—Buy 22/5, sel 23/6. Vincent Extendedr—Sel 9/. Waimumu Extended —Sel 13/6.

STOCK EXCHANGE NOTES. The weather report to-day from Alexandra showed the river to be Bft bin above minimum and the weather fine. The market this morning was indisposed and the business tone sluggish. There was little if any fluctuation in prices, and mem-

bers did not seem anxious to compete. It requires more gold than is coming forward at present to galvanise the market into healthy activity, and the ordinary returns chronicled for some time past only suffice to whet the appetite for better things. The returns for last week are slightly above the average, and should approximate L,40005, while the Coast yield should top 500oz. This is equal to a combined production of nearly 2,0000z, which, while evidencing the existence of much payable ground, is still a long way below the capacity of all the machines if steadily at work.

The principal quotes axe:—Alexandra Lead: Buy 4/, sell 6/; a wide market. Alpine No. 2: Bay 21/, no sellers. Bendigo : Buy 15/, sell 14; hardening a little. Central Charlton: Buy 6/, sell 10/; a stem debent are chase is a long chase; should do better since the dredge has been renovateu “for the fortieth time. Dunstan Lead: Buy 4/9, sell 6/3; still cm 20oz ground, which is not good enough. Endeavor : Sell 15/; should be worth holding. Enterprise: Sale 29/6, buy 29/, sell 29/6; a steady producer. Gold King: Buy 4/9 f sell 6/; seem to be on better wash. Hokitika River: Buy 13/6, sell 16/; keeps on payable, if rough, ground. Inchdale: Buy 14/9; sell 16/; firm. Meg and Annie: Buy 25/6, sell 24/3; a splendid return again, and shares, as usual, weaker; this company ought to declare the dividend, and avoid further suspense. Mosquitos: Buy 20/, sell 21/9; buyers are not buzzing after them so keenly. North Beach: Buy 12/6, sell 11 hj on good spd. No Town Creek: Sale Zty, buy 24/3, sell 25/; stronger. Pactolus: Buy 33/6, sell 36/; easier. Prince Albert: Buy 4/6, sel 6/; a very fair return ; may improve. Rise and Shine: Buy 13/6, sel 15/3; last week the time was very broken. Royal Maori; Buy 16/9, sell 17/; weaker. Three-mile Greenstone: Buy 14/ sell 20; are worth holding on to. Trafalgar; Buy 23/. sel 24/.: firm. Investment Stock.—B.N.Z. : Buy 46/. National Insurance; Buy 20/3, sell 20/6. Standard Insurance: Buy 17/3. Union Steam: Buy £ll, sell £ll 6/6. Westport Coal: Buy 84/, sell 86/. National Mortgage ; Buy 52/9. N.Z. Drugs: x>uy 51/. Tho Pile-up Company directors having had a suspicion that the previous bonng tests made of their claim were not strictly reliable, and in order to reassure themselves and the shareholders, recently; decided to conduct another series of experiments with the rods. A competent and dependable expert was forthwith despatched to the claim, together with the necessary gear and several assistants. The latter unfortunately developed a fatal, and, not uncommon nowadays, aversion to work after reaching their destination, the result being that the tests _ were delayed until more energetic exponents of the pick and shovel could be procured. These were found with some difficulty, and a start made. The results have only to-day been made known, and we believe they are far from satisfactory. It will bo remembered that the last prospecting, undertaken hi the presence of several of the directors and shareholders, yielded fabulous results. So sensational were they that we refrained from publishing them for fear of the unsettling effect on the Dunedin shareholders’ sensibilities. The apparent richness might, however, be faintly indicated by stating that had the claim as a whole been one-tenth as rich as the bores, the company might have succeeded in bringing the precious metal into disrepute. The most recent and conlirmabory tests showed barely a color, we understand, and there is naturally a general desire for some explanation. It is wleged that the claim has been salted, but while appearances certainly point in that direction there is no actual evidence so far that such has actually been done. A meeting of directors will be held on Wednesday to receive the boring expert’s report, and shareholders will then have more definite information. . The Round Hill Mining Company being an English hydraulic venture, we do not hear much about it, although it is contributing its quota to our gold production. Jhe company were registered in June, 1892, and have therefore been in operation ten years. The total amount of money expended to date is £73,690 14r, lid, and the amount last year £4,882 alone. 'The amount «f gold won to date is over £58,847 worth, £9,058 worth being produced last year. The return for January of this year- was 108oz 16dwt, valued at £430, which represents a little over two weeks’ work on good ground. The company are perfectly solvent, having no liabilities and a credit balance at the bank, and it is expected that during the present year some satisfactory dividends will be paid. The Britannia Gold Dredging Company’s statement of affairs to the end of 1901 should nearly constitute a record in the matter of arrears in calls. This little item is a trifle over £2,843, and how the defaulting shareholders are going to be made to pay up is a problem that will require solution. £6,287 lls 6d has been spent up to date on one thing and another, and there are contingent liabilities still of £2,044 2s Id, to meet, which and current expenses. £ll2 18s 3d did repose on December 31 last in the bank. This is a weary prospect, and it will binteresting to observe how the company negotiate the final step. Those arrears of calls are something for a secretary to conjure with in his dreams. How they come to get so far behind and to be distributed over 108 shareholders is likewise a mystery to the lay intelligence.

THE GOLDEN RIVER DREDGING COMPANY. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—ln regard to my last letter re the above, and the reply thereto by the chairman of directors, I may say that I do not wish to mislead, but am only stating facts, and would like to know why the ballot papers were taken from the meeting and then destroyed. I can give the individual votes up to 1,455 —the 1,100 is too good. I have been a shareholder since the inception of the company, and have added to my interest since; so can look at it from an investor’s point of view, and nob as a mere trafficker in shares. Ido not think that a free discussion will hurt the company. Bad management certainly with Some people seem, to forget that the primary purpose of a gold dredging company is to get gold. They think that it is for the mere purpose of trading scrip, and, incidentally, to get a few pickings on directorate boards. The chairman’s reference to the retiring director is unfortunate, inasmuch as that gentleman had practically retired from the contest, and, in fact, gave me all the votes ho held, he being dissatisfied with the way thing? were conducted. I thought the chairman was aware of this. As to the wrong statement said to be made by me, I can only say that I got my information at the office of the company. I didn’t say the scrutineers purposely miscounted; but I do say that if directors of this or any company don’t say or do any worse than that they won’t have much to be ashamed of. -The public have had a very good insight this last eighteen months into gold dredging companies. Saturday’s paper says last year’s statement of affaire is instructive. So it is for spending the shareholders’ money. The value of the gold alone comes to £1.328 18s lOd, and by all accounts they have spent over £260 in that short time, which should leave a balance of over £1.078. But by thenstatement all we will have will he £750 odd, and they are still spending. I would also like to' know why our late dredgemaster was not reappointed.—l am, etc., A. Romeril. February 10.