WAIHI GOLD MINING CO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13782, 22 June 1908, Page 3

WAIHI GOLD MINING CO.

THE ANNUAL MEETING. , THE CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH.._' [FBOM Oil: OWN' COIMUJ'SJEONIJfiSfT-) ■■ ■■■ ... Loxfiox", 'May- 15. '-'-.,' i Tub annual meeting of tho Waihi Gold-: Mining; C'onipanv was held '■ yesterday at the Cannon-street Hotel, Mr."A. M, Hitchiwn in the chair, and there was a large attendance of shareholders. • In the coyrH- of his lengthy remarks, in moving the adoption or tho ■■ r««port, the Chairman referred first to the* Regtn& reef, which was practically merged into the Martha at the tewnth love!. This Kef, bo said, is more separate from it on the eighth, and though, <>y\ the Average, values are lower on tho eighth than on the seventh, yet the aggregate of the width of tho two reefs litis not diminished on tho whole, and wo must hope for hotter valuta again in the lower levels. On the eighth level .there,. has been a. remarkable clung*?. At the Welcome junction thefd was a body id ore SOft wide; but as it. was at ttto junction of two reefs it was difficult to-jay exactly which part was tho Welcome and which ww Tin* Edward. We then drove along tit* course of Use Edward to the south, and art now rather more than half- to the Royal, and during tins cotinio of about 390 ft. a remarkable, body of ore has been disclose*!. Thcrw ivtvft been some very good values in Hie drives ; but the conspicuous feature was: the great, width of the lode. The reef lias ; been cut through in six places, and just I past tho .junction with the Empire ha* attained/the remarkable width of 92ft. .Perhaps, however, the most striking crosscut is tho one at 200 f- sou'.h of Welcome junction,, where the reef is 75ft wide, and worth over £10 to. tho ton, (Applause,) Oar last telegram, dated May 11, shows a falling off in the value of the drive, which at MKft is about 18s 8(1 per ion, but, a- drive only 'Ift wide does not tell us much about the reef in this vicinity. Turning to the Erapire lode, wo. have on the eighth level a. total to the west of No. 4 shaft, up to tho .Edward reef, of 967 ft, of which over 800 ft,; is in payable reef matter. I now come to the Royal reef, which at present is the most southerly of our payable reefs. On- the seventh level wo have driven on it for a distance of nearly 2000 ft," and are still driving to the west. For about 1700 ft the ore has been payable. The ore reserves) of the company blocked out on at least three side*, amount, to 1,299,979 tons, being an increa.se of 270,321 tons over the amount;, last year. It is clear that we must have more pumping power for the lower levels, and we must not grudge some expense to keep ourselves thoroughly secure in this important L particular. An immediate outlay of 'about £10,000 seems advisable, and we '■■ have provided for it out. of this year's account*. A greater. expenditure ihan'this will be-necessary, but shareholders need not fear that we are going to let it interfere with the regularity of the. distribution of dividends. And now as to our reduction works. Wo crushed 28,108 more tons during. 1907 than we crushed during 1906. There is an increase of over 6000 tons at the Waihi mill, but the principal increase is at the Victoria mill, where 21,801 mens tons wore crushed. , There are- now seven tube mills at. work; but. five of them only run for two months during last year. During tho current year we expect there- will be an appreciable increase in the output from this mill. The gas plant up to the present has fully come up to our expectations. As, against the increase in the tonnage crushed there is iv decrease in the average value of the ore, brought to the nulls, It was £2 14s lid this year* as against £>?, 17s 8d last year, or a falling off of 2s 3d per ton. But if you divide £878,485— the total amount wc received for nor gold and silver during ' the year—by 356,974.—the number of tons crushed will see. that it works out at £2 9s 2d, whereas 'last year the corresponding figure was £2 10s, lid. Therefore, although the ore was worth 2? 9.d per ton less, yet the decrease :u.;wh;«t l wo ultimately got out of it was only Ik Sd less'.. Hence the total amount wojrociS'i'-.'d was. the satisfactory figure of £878,485, or £40,558 more than last rear; ntlso.wc got £800 more interest: 60, altogether, our gross receipts Were over £41,000 more than, last year. (Hear, hear.) I ought to remark here that we are faced with a considerable fall in the price of silver, and I regret to' say that the fall has 'been more accentuated during the present, year; and whereas, during the first four, months of 1907 the average price we obtained was 2» 7-23 d per ounce standard, in 1908 it was 2s,'L29d. Now, if avo divide £357,674—the expenditure for tho year— the number of tons crushed, we shall find that it in,just 20s per ton, within a halfpenny. Last year the corresponding figure was over 20s Tld per ton, so the total revenue expenditure, including development-work and all London expenses, has been reduced by over lid per ton during the year. (Hear, hear.). The result is that tho gross profit on the revenue ! account for the year amounts to £530,910, j being an increase of £28,847 over tho cor- | responding figure of last year. i After paying everything, the chairman ! continued, and making every provision and ! acting on the thoroughly conservative prill- | eipies which the magnitude and importance j of this great mining undertaking warrant j and demand, we shall have made a distribui lion of 16s per share, or 80 per "cent., for J the year 1907(hear, hear)—but of: this 3s j will come as a bonus; and tho question j arises whether wo shall not be justified in i the present year in increasing tho dividend. j For many reasons shareholders, naturally and rightly, desire that as much of the annual distribution as possible shall be made in the form of dividends, 'arid if seems likely that we shall be able to make a distribution of 16s in the current year—and. certainly, I can see no- reason at > present why we shall not be able to do bo—then I think shareholders would like us 'to; start

paying quarterly dividends of 4s j each in September. (Applause.) The result would theft be—if the -total distribution in respect of 1908 is 16s—that it would be made by two dividends of 3s 6d each and two of At each and a bonus of Is. It is impossible, of course, to forecast at present what the exact distribution , for 1908 will be, but 1. think we are justified in basing our calculation on, a 16s distribution as a minimum, and in indicating a 4s dividend as probable in September, unless any unforeseen events should occur to prevent it. And now I come to those portions of my remarks which always give me so much pleasure to submit to you, and which I know are always so well appreciated by you. I speak of the first-rate- services which we receive from oar representatives and staff in New Zealand. (Applause.) Last year I referred in more detail than usual to their zeal and ability and perseverance, and I will not repeat what I said, but I will add that every succeeding step which we make in our development of this groat undertaking convinces I us more and more of the excellence of J these servicer. I regret to say that Mr. Stafford has been obliged, on account of J trouble with his eyesight, to resign hi« j post of business manager at the mine, J which he has occupied for over 14 years. i His. father (Sir E. W. Stafford) was as | original director of the company, and Mr. i Stafford went to Waihi in 1894, and has served the company most loyally and efficiently. It was a- matter of great regret to Mr. Barry and Mr. Rhodes when Mr. Stafford felt obliged to resign, and the directors fully shared their feelings in accepting his resignation. I think you will agree with us that, on the whole, the position is gratifying and satisfactory, and I beg to formally "move the adoption of the report and accounts. (Applause.) The motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet was seconded by Mr. William Bristow, and was adopted unanimously.' In reply to questions, the chairman said that with regard to the distribution for 1908 it was impossible for him to state what the bonus would be; nor could he say anything about the life of the mine. By the way the reefs were going down itwas impossible to say. What" they felt sure was that there were vast bodies of ore below; but they could not commit themselves to any statement as to the extent. The retiring director (Mr. E. J* Bruttou) was re-elected, and the auditor was reappointed. Mr. Alien moved < a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors and staff, at Home and in* .Jfew Zejdmd, which .yviu3_du.lv. accorded, •-" :