THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5757, 30 April 1880, Page 6

THE GOLDFIELDS.

[FKOM OUR o"WN CORRESPONDENT.] Thames, Ttiuraday. Queen of Beauty*—-Preparations for commencing pumping operations ia this mine are becoming more advanced every day, and in a very few days everything will be in readiness for starting. Nearly the whols of the work in connection with the fixing of the turbine wheel has been completed, and one of the buildiags from the Piako shaft has been removed and re-erected over the pumping machinery. The company have cer* tainly spared no expense over the improvements to the property, and the result will no doubt prove that the confidence, both of the directors and shareholders in the mine, is not misplaced. Of course, after the pamp is; started, it will take some time to clear the mine of water, and consequently it may be some months yet before really mining operations are resumed. The prospects left on the floor of the low level were so good, however, that there is every inducement to go on with the present work. [by telegraph, own correspondent.] Thames, Thursday. Gold Rbturks.—New North Devon tribate (Garvie's), 44izs. Bdvrts.; Wells's Reef claim, soza. Bdwfcs. ; Little Lizzie, 6jzs. 14dwts.: Pretty Jane Spur, loz. lOJwts. New North Devon - .—Gar vie an 3 party, tributers in th.is mine, have crushed 36 loads of general stuff for the return of 44ozs. Bdwts. of melted gold. The quartz lately broken out'has been low grade stuff, but the stuff now coming fco hand shows a considerable improvement. In a few days the company will comoience to open out about the Sous of Freedom tunnel for the new passes. New Whau.—-The lode was shot down in the winze to day, and a few pounds of picked stone" were obtained. There has been no very rich stone broken out, bat the whole of the staff will prove tirsb class crushiog dirt. The winze and rise will probably be conaected on Satuiday. Little Ltzzie. — The proprietors o! this claim have crushed a parcel of general stuff for the return of 6oz*. 14dwts. of melted gold. Sha rem irket.—Sales : Whau, 47s 6d, 48a; Devon, 13s, 13s 6d ; Kuranui, Bs, 8a 3d ; Cure, 3s 2d ; Victoria, Is 3d. Sellers : Wliau, 495; Devon, 15s ; Moanataiari, 55s ; Kuranui, 8s Gd ; Columbia, 2s 6d. Buyers : Alburnia, 60; Whau, 47s 6d ; Devon, 13a; Moauataia*i, 52i6d; Queen of Beauty, 7s.

ALBURNIA GOLD MINING COMPANY. The annual meeting of the shareholdars of this company took place yesterday afternoon in the large room of the New Zealand Insurance Buildings. At the hour appointed thare were just sufficient shareholders to form a quorum Mr. Thomas Macffirlane, the chairman of the Board of Directors, preside!. Mr. Garland (secretary) read the minutes of last meeting, which were confirmed. The report and balancs sheet having been printed, and placed ia the hands of each shareholder, were, on the suggestion of . the chairman, accepted as read. The directors'., report stated the returns from the mine for the past year exceeded those of the previous year, owing to the discovery of a rich run of gold in December last. Prom the statement of profit and loss, it would be seefi. that" the profit on the year's work was £21,037 Os lid, out of which £19,000, or £2 7s 6d per share, was paid in dividends. In Juno last Mr. Radford, the present energetio miae mauager, was appointed, and soou after bis attention was directed to the large quantity of fair crushing stone which the mine was capable of producing. M'r. Kadford represented that a company like the Alburnia, having a property second in area on the field, should not ba dependent for dividends upon chance finds of rich patches of stone, when it is known that an almost unlimited quantity of good average quartz can be raised and made to pay, if only cheap crushing power were available. After careful inquiry, the directors decided upon obtaining a crushing plant, and, accordingly, purchased the Prince Alfred battery. The plant has since been put in thorough repair, and the number of stampers increased to twenty-three. It is worked by a turbine, and, from its position, close to the Moanataiari tramway, is the most suitable, as well as the cheapest, plant which could have beeu obtained for the company. The reserve fund has baen made up to the original amount of £4000.

The balance-sheet shews that the gild obtained amounted to ll,3S3>zs. lSdwts., proceeds of 3472 tons of quartz, £29,175 15s Gd; tributes, £1416 17s; tailings, £1843 17s 4d : total, £33,962 13s. The chief items of expenditure were -.—Creditors at 3lst March, 1879, £525 8s 2d; purchase of New North Clunes, £90; purchase of Watchman, £166; purchase of Prince Alfred Battery, £300; expended in repairs, £720. Mine expmditure : Wages, £6524 6s 101; crushing and carriage, £2341 Ca ; material, including timber, powder, fuel, caudles, tools, ironmongery, £1471 6s Id; reinvested with ressrve, £722 10s ; paid in dividends (£2 7s 6d per share), £19,000; balance in Bank of New Zealand, £1026 lis 5d : total, £33 962 15s. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the reports and balance-sheet, said that, after repeated visits and careful inspection of every part of the mine, he had the fullest confidence in saying that he believed their property to be in a very satisfactory condition. As stated in the report, there was a very large quantity of quartz—the manager says acta ally, unlimited—which up till now they had been unable to crush on account of the expense of doing so. That stuff will produce from 8 to 18dwts. to the ton, andthe cost of turning it into gold would not exceed Sdwts., so that on this alone fair dividends could be made, and when this stuff was added to that of a higher grade, the dividends would not only be largely increased, but wouldba much more regular— it be monthly all the year round. The I inferior stuff referred to had hitherto been thrownoutas worthless, andthis fact, amongst others, induced the directors to think of securing crushing power for the company below the Sons of Freedom tunnel, and to procure water for that purpos9 from the Tararu creek. They had the ground surveyed and the expense of doing so ascor- | tained, when the Prince Alfred battery came into the market, and then they decided on abandoning the scheme referred to, and on purchasing the Alfred battery should it be got at a reasonable figure. This turned out to be the case, and that batttry was accordingly purchased, and afterwards put iuto complete working order. He could not understand the present tluctuations in the price of the stock. He had been charged with being one of the causes of this by buying and selling the stock to a large extent, and he took the present opportunity of saying that he had never, either directly or indirectly, sold a single share in the company, and that he had now no intention of doing He did not speculate in any shares, and his confidence in the Alburnia was such that he was not likely for many days to come to do anything of the kind with this Btock. He wished also to state to the shareholders that the directors, collectively and individually, had the most perfect confidence in the integrity, skill, and judgment of .the mine manager, Mr. .Radford, and they believed that under his management the mine would be judiciously wrought, and

a Bteady outoome of dividends secured. I The Chairman then shoved that a largo amount of dead work was biing done in this mine, and stated that facilities would be given to the New Whin, North Devon, Columbia, and Reuben Parr, by which these companies would be able to get their stuff to the batteries at a much less expense than they Could possibly have done in any other way The directors had been repeatedly to pay dividends out of the reserve fund, but they steadily resisted anything of the kind, and they continue to do so because the stability of the company greatly depeuded on having such a fund. Mr. F. A. White in seconding the motion, spoke of the amount of dead work or prospecting that had been done, and thought that increased efforts should be made in this respect. He did not agree with the idea of having so large a reserve out at mere interest, but thought they should utilise it in prospecting and opening up the mine. The motion was adopted. Mr. Howard then moved that Mr. Patterson be re-elected director, which was seconded by Mr. D. B. Cruickshank, and agreed to. Mr. T. L. White was again elected auditor, | and the meeting closed with the usual vote j of thanks to the chairman, directors, an(? ' secretary. ,