THE KAURI COMPANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9104, 12 July 1888, Page 5

THE KAURI COMPANY.

I Among the passengers yesterday by the Rotomahana from Sydney was Mr. D. Blair, managing director of the new Kauri Timber Company. He has brought with him the prospectus and articles of association of the company, which are now in the hands of the printer, and will shortly be published by advertisement in the papers throughout New Zealand. The prospectus states that the company, which is registered under the Companies Statute, 1564, has a capital of £1,200,000 in 600,000 shares of £2 each, of which 450,000 are offered to the public at 5s on application, 5s on allotment, 5s in two months, and 5s in three months. The remaining 150,000 shares are retained for the vendors, who guarantee a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, for four years on the paid-up capital. The directors are: Hon. J. Balfour, M.L.C., R. Harper, M.L.A., G. Lush, G. H. Mann, Harvey, Patterson, Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Sargood, C.M.G., M.L.C., and John Sharp. Mr. I). Blair is managing director, and Mr. G. Holdship local director for New Zealand. In summarised form, the value of the properties purchased is as follows : — About 1,563,000,000 feet (as most carefully estimated by competent experts) of splendid kauri timber, which, at a low valuation of Is per 100 feet, amounts to, say £781,500. Twenty mills in full working order, with booms, dams, water right, cattle, horses, tramways, etc.—£4oo,ooo. Stocks of timber, ready or nearly ready for market, valued at £217,000: Total, £1,398,500. This valuation is exclusive : of the value of the land, of which there is 146,000 acres freehold, and 257,000 acres leasehold, having terms up to 60 years to run; neither does it take 1 account of the gum deposits, nor of the : quantities of kahikatea and other timber, of which there are dense forests on part of the land which the company will acquire, j The guarantee of dividend, it is stated, will be either personally or by guarantee of a guarantee company, and the first annual meeting to distribute dividends is fixed for October 9, 1889. As has already been published 100,000 shares have been reserved for New Zealand, and to give the fullest opportunity for satisfying the demand in the different centres in New Zealand, application for shares will be received up to the "28th inst., or a week longer than in Melbourne. "Any of the 100,000 shares," said Mr. Blair to a Herald reporter, " which are not taken up in New Zealand will soon be snapped up in Melbourne. I left the day before the prospectus was issued there, so I can't say how the thing went off, but virtually the shares have all been applied for already. I have had applications for nearly 100,000 myself from private friends. We have already had applications for direct cargoes to England, and before I left Melbourne we heard that we could sell half-a-dozen cargoes in England at a fair profit. Unfortunately, we are just now in such a position that we ci«nnot take advantage of such an opportunity, as we are so busy organising the business, and the old companies had made no proper provisions for going ahead. In fact we have none too many logs at present. There will be more men employed than under the old companies, but we intend to centralise the work. We have 28 mills, but these will be concentrated into about 14, which will be larger, more efficient, and will employ rather more hands than at present. That's about the way we regard it at present." "Prices? Well, the present advance is Is a hundred, and ultimately, it will not exceed 2s. There are many small difficulties which delay us greatly, and it will take some time to get all the companies woundup ; but everything is going on satisfactorily. The valuation of the Union Company's property is progressing steadily, and as the stocks are turning out in excess of what was anticipated, there is every chance of a small dividend for the shareholders. At one time I thought they would got nothing."