TAIRUA GOLD MINING COMPANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4394, 13 December 1875, Page 3

TAIRUA GOLD MINING COMPANY.

Ax extraordinary general meeting of tl.a shareholders of the Tairua Gold Mining Company will be held at the office of the company at two o'clock to-day. As our readers are aware, there has been no small stir lately with reference to the Tairua mine, and very strong accusations have been made against the late mine manager for concealing from the directors as a body the condition of the mine. On discovering how matters stood, the directors sent up Mr. S. E. Richards, who made an examination, and furnished a report. Mr. Richards, having in view the importance of the interests at stake, recommended that the directors should have another examination, and they accordingly sent up Mr. J. W. Walker, whose report on the state of the mine will also be produced today. A meeting of Thames shareholders in the company, convened by Mr. Ehrenfried, was held at the Pacific Hotel, Grahamstown, on Friday evening. There were 24 shareholders present, and Mr. Ehrenfried was called to the chair. He explained that on Monday a meeting of the company will be held in Auckland, and upon the decision of that meeting the fate of the company depended. It would no doubt be inconvenient for many of the Thames shareholders to be present at that meeting, and he thought it advisable to call them together to obtain from them an expression of opinion. He then read a draft report, of which we give some portions : —The statement forming part of this report covers a period from the company's formation to .December 2nd, 1875. It will be seen that receipts from calls amounted to £1,019 6s; from sales of gold, £793 Is lOd; whilst the expenditure in payments for contracts, mine wages, materials, machinery, and working expenses for the same period amounted to £2,661 4s lid; legal expenses, lawsuits, &c., £312 2s Sd; advertising, postage, Government charges, secretary's salary, and incidental expenses, £283 lis Id; leaving a balance due to the Bank of New Zealand of £1407 Cs Id; and contracts and sundry accounts to provide for of about £3043 3s Bd, Since report of 3rd of July, the operations at the mine have been chiefly confined to the sinking of the shaft where the rich prospects originally discovered were obtained from, and continuing the drive to intersect the reef, as Mr. Beeche, in his report, expected it to come to hand in a few feet; as also prospecting what is now known as the big face of the chain, and from which they have been led to expect good results. From all sources about 113 tons of crushing stuff have been put through the company's small battery, for a return of 315 ozs. 8 dwts. 15 grs., equal to 3 ozs. per ton. The report then states what had been done to obtain machinery, and the contracts which had been entered into. It will be seen that to carry out the works entered upon for the company, a sum of £1407 6s Id will be requisite to meet overdraft at bank, and outstanding liabilities to complete works £3043 3s Bd, against which unpaid capital amounts to £3730 14s ; cash, £152 9s Id; and other assets, say £2728 17b 7d. The bank has demanded; immediate payment of orerdraft, and by rule No. 2 the directors cannot call on shareholders to assist beond Is per month. They would, therefore, suggest to the proprietary that an immediate call of 5s per 'share be made, and should such prove too pressing on any individual shareholder, that such payment could extend over a period of five months, by giving the company promissory notes—say Is per share, payable in January, 2s in March, and 2s in May. Bank interest to be

added thereto. Up to within a recent date your directors have received most ! encouraging reports as to the prospects of the mine, both from the manager and the public Press, but the result of the crushings being far below j expectations (although in themselves yery fair), together with the sudden fall inj the market value of the company's shares, caused some anxiety. One of the directors, Mr. Ehrenfried, visited the mine, and reported thereon. It was found that for some time the rich run of gold in the shaft had been, comparatively speaking, exhausted, and the manager, Mr. J. B. Beeche, had partly filled the shaft up, covering the top to prevent access, and had not reported these facts to the directors. On this becoming known, they at once dismissed him from your employ, and requested Captain Richards, manager of the Caledonian Gold Mining Company, to visit the mine and report thereon, which ho has done, and, although he felt confident in his own report, yet, as such large interests were at stake, he suggested that another experienced mine manager should also report to us, and, in adopting his suggestion, he approved of the appointment of Captain Walker, manager of the Long Drive Gold Mining Company. Both reports the directors hand you annexed, and it is to be deeply regretted they verify the fact as to the state of the shaft. The directors, with trifling exception, still retain their original interests in the company, and in some instances have added thereto. They deeply regret the expectations they held at last meeting have not been realised ; at the same time they would recommend to the serious consideration of the shareholders the advisability of promptly meeting the engagements of the company, and adopting the advice of Captain Richards as to future course of procedure. Mr. John Neeves, the original prospector of the field, has intimated his willingness to devote two months of his time to further prospect the claim, and it is also recommended to accept his offer. Mr. W. B. Jackson having resigucd his seat as chairman of directors, Mr. G. S. Graham has been elected in his place. —Mr. Ehrenfried said the directors were led into this heavy expenditure by reports that there were unlimited quantities of rich stuff in the shaft and drive. Before they purchased the plant they asked the manager, and he assurred them he was quite certain he could get hundreds of tons which would pay for this expenditure at once. His statements were supported by Mr. Jackson, the chairman of the directors, aud so they went in for this machinery.— Mr. Stephenßon asked what was the nature of Captain Richards' report ?—The Chairman explained that he had not the report with him. It stated that for the first 10 feet in the shaft there was nice soft country, in which there might have been gold, but the last 15 feet was sunk through solid rock, which could not contain gold, although there might be a little in the crevices. If they had not erected and purchased machinery already, he would not have advised them to go in for it, but under present circumstances he advised them to go on. He advised them to put in a low level drive to cut the Ajax reef, and said that the surface rock might pay for crushing if they had a good crushing plant. They had other reports, all shewing that a system of concealment had been going on for months, and it behoved them as shareholders to see into the matter.— A long discussion ensued, and strong terms were used regarding the conduct of the mine manager and others ; and Mr. Lessong moved, "That this meeting is of opinion that, under the existing circumstances, it is advisable to finish the present contracts, and spend what is necessary to try if the goldbearing rock is payable or not."—This motion was seconded by Mr. G. Woodward, and carried.—Another long discussion ensued regarding the conduct of Mr. Beeche and others in having, as was alleged, concealed from the directors and shareholders certain facts with which they should have been made acquainted ; aud on the motion of Mr. Akers, seconded by Mr. Binney, it was resolved, "That this meeting is of opinion that if the directors, on inquiry, find that there has been a concealment of the true state of the mine from the directors and shareholders, by the miue manager or any other person, that they should immediately institute legal proceediugs against such person or persons." Those present at the meeting who would be unable to attend the meeting in Auckland then filled in and handed to Mr. Ehrenfried proxies authorising him to act for them at the meeting in Auckland.