MINING.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1599, 3 February 1906, Page 5

MINING.

mili. cheek freehold, ltd. . The third annual meeting of shareholders in this company, held in Mr Inder's ofiice, was attended by some twenty gentlemen. The chairman of directors (Mr j\l. L. Sprat i) presided. The annual report stated that the year just ended had been very satisfactory, although the dredgemaster had hud considerable difliculty in contending with a large amount of clay and heavy expenditure for breakage of machinery and carting of coal, owing to the state of the roads. For a period of four months the returns fell off and the position of the company instead of improving went back, and on October 12, liiO's, the overdraft at the? bank stood at trtfl ISs lid. Since then, however, the returns hail improved, and the overdraft had been reduced to Csl 10s Nd. Kven this amount was, although standing against the company, wiped oIT, as tlnj company had not yet been credited with tiie out-turns of gold from September last, which should approximately be t'oM. The dredge had a thorough overhaul in December lasl, the buckets being re-lipped, links re-hushed and a number of other repairs elYeet-'d, and should need little or no attention for repairs for sumo iimc to come. There was a irivater 'plant ity .of clay in I he claim to be eontended with than the directors anticipated, but nevertheless, with the now clear of debt, everything working satisfactorily, and better returns, the directors confidently looked forward

to regular dividend's being paid in the future. The thanks of the shareholders were due to the dredgemaster for his untiring energy during the last two years, as it was mainly through his efforts that the dredge had been so well handled and the company brought to its present position.—Satisfaction was expressed with the nature of the report and balance-sheet, and they were unanimously adopted. The former directors were re-elected, with the exception that Mr A. D. Martin takes the place of Mr 1). Corcoran, resigned. Mr 1). M. Cochrane was reappointed auditor.