THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11869, 22 January 1902, Page 6

THE GOLDFIELDS.

• AUCKLAND SHAREMARKET. j DitlkesS prevailed on the Exchange again I yesterdav- In investment lines Devonport i Steam Ferrys sold at 40s 6d, late buyers | offering 41s, sellers asking 41s 6d. In I mining lines Waihis were easier, with sales at £6, sellers closing at £6 ss, and | buyers at £5 19s. Waitekauris were done at 9s 3d. Late prices ruled in other lines. WAIHI CONSOLS G.M. CO. The Waihi Consols Gold Mining Company's bore-hole is now half-way through the hard bar, which is 30ft thick. It is hoped to reach the bottom of the bar this week. The size of the hole, is 4in, making room for a 3in pipe, which will go down from top to bottom. HAURAKI No. 2 G.M. CO. The leader in the Hauraki No. 2 Gold Mining Company's mine at Coromandel is from i£in to 2in wide, of black rusty-look-ing stone, lying on a hard footwall. Excellent prospects of gold are got by pounding, and the manager considers that there is a larger ore body close at hand, judging by the nature of the country, and the quantity of quartz veins running through it. WAIHI EXTENDED G.M. CO. The contractors having finished sinking the Waihi Extended Gold Mining Company's shaft 100 ft, have agreed to continue to sink a similar depth. The bottom is in a favourable class of sandstone. PROGRESS-CASTLE ROCK. The bottom level drive north on the footwall portion of Reynolds' reef in the Progress-Castle Rock mine at Coromandel has been extended 16ft from the starting point. The lode varies in size to Bin in thickness, showing the right class of minerals and strong colours of gold at the last breaking-down. Stoping has been continued in the second stope on Reynolds' reef. The lode still looks well, and carries gold; Crushing is to be started this week. THAMES HAURAKI GOLDFIELDS, LIMITED. . A FURTHER SIX MONTHS' PROTECTION RECOMMENDED. AN ENCOURAGING CABLE FROM . LONDON. [from our own correspondent.] ' Thames, Tuesday. At the Warden's Court this morning, before Mi'. R. S. Bush, the Thames Hauraki Goldfields, Limited, made application for a further term of six months' protection. The following reasons were given in support of the application(l) That the company is not in a position to resume pumping unless the Thames Drainage Board will subsidise the company instead of«the old Big Pump ; (2). the attorneys are instructed from London that the Reorganisation Committee has not -had time to complete its scheme for the reconstruction of the Standard Exploration Company. Mr. J. A. Miller, who appeared in support of the application, ana who is acting as solicitor for' the Official Receiver of the Standard Exploration Company in London, submitted a statement showing the present position of the company, in which it was stated that " some time ago the Thames Hauraki Goldfields, Limited, entered into an agreement for the sale to the Standard Exploration Company of their mining privileges and their shares. The considerations for tho sale were, it was believed, duly allotted to the vendors, but the assignment of.; the mining privileges ■; was never completely carried out. Consequently they were still registered in the name of the Thames Haiyaki Goldfields, Limited, but were really the property of the Standard Exploration : Company,, Limited. On or about January 16, 1901, a compulsory wind-ing-up order was made against the Standard Exploration Company, and on or about June 25, 1901, Mr. G. •S. Barnes, the senior official receiver, became liquidator .of the company. On July 30, 1901, a committee was appointed to consider, whether a scheme of reconstruction was either feasible or desirable in the interests of the shareholders, , and this committee had since been engaged in dealing with this question. The success of the reconstruction scheme depends entirely upon the value of certain mining properties in West Australia, belonging to the Standard Exploration. Company. Reports on this question were being awaited by the committee, and if they were convinced that these properties were of such value as to show a good future, they were of opinion that no difficulty would be experienced in obtaining further moneys from the shareholders. Mr. Miller was expecting to receive shortly a communication from the official receiver that the ( reconstruction scheme had been recommended by the committee, 'in which event further working capital would most likely be available for continuing operations upon the above-men-tioned special claims. Mr. Miller put in a letter from the official receiver, setting out the position of the Standard Exploration Company, and the proposed reconstruction scheme, which it stated depended entirely upon the value of the properties in Australia. Mr. Miller further stated that since the receipt of this letter, Mr. C. A. Harris had received an important cable from the Standard Exploration Company in London, which gave an even more favourable account; of the company's prospects for reconstruction. With Mr. Harris' consent, he read the cable, which was as follows : — "January 6, 1902. Expect scheme completed during tho present month, when necessary capital will be available." Mr. Miller said he considered this cable a most important and satisfactory one, and one which indicated a probability of the company soon being in a position to resume operations. , Mr. M. D. O'Keeffe, president of the Thames Miners' Union, explained , that he had not lodged an objection to the company s application, through being misled by the name of the claim given on the application, which,mentioned Queen of Beauty Extended claim instead of Thames Hauraki. He wished, however, the Warden to remember that when ho (the Warden) gave the company its last period of protection, he had said lie would grant no further protection to the company. The people of the Thames depended on the Warden to look after , their interests. The Warden explained that he had power to grant six months' protection only to any company, but the Legislature had given j further power to the Minister for Mines in | the Mining Act to grant further periods if he (the Minister) considered it advisable to do so. His (the Warden's) duty was to receive such applications, and then to refer them to the Minister for Mines. In the present instance he did not see how the mine- could be worked except by deep levels. He had not heard of any scheme being propounded whereby it could be worked otherwise, consequently it would bo a pity to thwart any action of the Thames Hauraki Company if there was any chance at all of its eventually securing tho necessary capital to develop its properties. Ho should forward the application to the Minister for Mines, to deal with.:.

THAMES WARDEN'S COURT. [from our own correspondent.] Thames, Tuesday. The following business was transacted by Mr. Warden Bush to-day: — Consented To: The following applications, which had received the consent of tho Minister for Mines, were finally dealt with and granted: The Fame and Fortune Mine, Limited, exchange of title from the Hauraki Golden Age to the Fame and Fortune special quartz claim, Thames; the Now Alburnia Gold Mining Company, Limited, six months' protection for three water-races, one machine site, two special sites, throe tramways, and one tunnel, Thames. Recommended: The application of William Burton , for the Wellington-Blucher special quartz claim, lamia, was recommended to the Minister for Mines for granting; also, the application of T. J. Mount tin for six months protection for the Golden Belt special quartz claim, Neavesvillc. Granted: The following applications were granted—John Bernman, six months' protection for the Nelson special quartz claim v\ aiomo; Robert Lowne, six months' protection for the Hector McDonald special quartz claim,_Waiomo; Thames Talisman bold Mining Company, permission to work the Thames Talisman special quartz claim Thames, with four mon for six months; Alexander Whitley, five months' protection for the-? Tamil Big Reefs and Dixon's Consolidated special quartz olaims, Thames; the Monowai Gold. Mines, Limited, application

for a special site for the erection of an aerial tramway from the Monowai mine to the company's new battery site, near the coast; Edward Anderson (for tho;Manau Gold Mineing Company), permission to i cut down 28 kauri trees on Crown land • at Whangamata for mining purposes; ; John. Nodder, absolute forfeiture - of-', Moonlight special quartz claim, Tairua;: G. E. Stephenson, application for an order authorising ..the sale by auction of the whole of the mining property and machinery of the Puriri Gold Estates Com- ' pany, in satisfaction of a lieu for wages for work done. The order was granted as applied for, the sale to bo by public auction on the mine on February 4- next. . Adjourned: The following applications were adjourned: William Gough Webb, six months' protection for the Taniwha No. 2 sneeial quartz claim, Tairua, adjourned to February 4; William Rainger and ; the Kauri Timber Company, Limited, absolute forfeiture of the Premier special quartz claim, Gumtown, adjourned to February. 18. .The Mahara Royal, Limited, ' made application for permission to. work the Mahara Royal and Shannon special quartz claims, Tapu, with four men each for six months. Mr. E. Miller appeared on behalf of the company, and explained that since the first of the current month a half-year's rent had become due on both properties, and the company had no funds in hand from, which to pay the said rent. The company was connected with the Standard Exploration Company, of London, and was in a similar position to that of the Thames Hauraki. ; This was the first occasion on which such a. difficulty had occurred, but there was a strong probability that if the application was granted the money would be forthcoming before the half-year, had expired. In reply, the Warden stated that he was very sorry to hear the remarks which had fallen from Mr. Miller, but he had made it a rule that no such application could be granted unless the rents were always paid in advance. The rule had acted very well in the past, and ho could not see his way to break it. consequently ho would not grant the present application unless the rents due were paid. Eventually, however, after some further discussion, the Warden, at the request of Mr. Miller, said he would adjourn the application to February 4. Applications Objected To: The Ironcap Gold Mining Company applied for permission to work tho Ironcap spccial quartz claim, Tararu, with six men for six months. The application was objected to by Mr. M. D. O'Keeffe, president of the Thames Miners' Union, on the ground that the company had received several periods of protection already, but had not complied with the conditions as laid down by the Warden when such protections wero granted. Mr. J. A. Miller appeared for the company, and called Mr. S. C. Macky in support of . the application. The Warden granted the application. The New Alburnia Gold Mining Company made application for permission to work the New Alburnia special claim, Thames, with four men for a period of six months. This application was also objected to by Mr. O'Keeffe, president of the Thames Miners' Union, on similar grounds as in the Ironcap Company's application. Mr. J. A. Miller appeared on behalf of the company. Mr. D. G. MacDonnell was called in support of the application. The Warden said that to him the application seemed a reasonable one. He would grant the application oil the understanding that as many tributes were granted as were applied for, provided that such tributes did not endanger the company's machinery. SOUTHERN MINING. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Dunedjn, Tuesday. The yield of gold from the Glenrock mine, Macetown, for 1901, was 13300z, valued at £5300. DREDGING V [bY TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] , Dunedin, Tuesday. During the past week . returns were reported from 48 dredges, the total yield being 12490z lldwt lOgr, or an average of 260z per dredge. The additional returns are: Upper Waipori, 220z lOdwt; Enfield, 19oz 9dwt; Nevis, 15oz Gdwt; Tuapeka, 12oa 4dwt; Happy Valley, 12oz. It now appears that a mistake was made in reading the code message about the return from the Magnetic dredge, and instead of being 89oz it is only lOoz. DUNEDIN STOCK EXCHANGE. [BY TELEGRAPH.'PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Dunedin, Tuesday. Dunedin Exchange sales: Alpine Consols, 19s ; Ettrick, 12s ; Golden Run, contribut- i ing. 18s ; Msg and Annie, 24s 9d : Olrig, 12s 6d, 12s 9d ; Point d'Or, 6d discount. OtajJo Exchange: Not own Creek, 18s ; Royal Maori, ,23s 3d, 235: p *- ' :