KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15552, 9 March 1914, Page 9

KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

CLEANING BY MACHINES.

A NEW INVENTION.

COMPANY'S ANNUAL MEETING,

[from OTTR own

Daegaville, Saturday. The first statutory meeting of the - New Zealand Gum Cleaning Company, Limited, was held at Dargaville. There was an attendance of 200 shareholders, the major portion being Croatians. Mr. Raymond presided.

The chairman explained that the company was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1908, with a capital .of £30,000, in £1 shares, of which 7000 contributing shares were reserved for future issue, 7500 were reserved for the promoting company (the Gum Machines Company), 5000 were subscribed, and 9500 were available to the public. According to. the prospectus the company acquired the sole right to use, under letters patent, the invention to clean kauri gum, and had applied for protective patents for the same in England,, Germany, France, Belgium, United States of America, and Australia. The company had also acquired the gum - cleaning plant, machinery, and equipment, with >tho interest in lease of the factory in Federal Street, Auckland. For the rights and privileges under the letters patent they agreed to pay £2500 in cash. £2500 in seven months, an allotment of 7500 paid up shares, and a royalty, of £2 10s per ton on all gum treated by the machinery. For the leasehold factory and gum-cleaning plant £1250 was to be paid, the whole of the considerations to go solely to the Gum Machines Company. It was claimed that the invention cleaned kauri, gum at onetenth the cost of ,hand-scraping, that it cleaned gum us it, comes from the ground, that 50 per cent, of waste was saved, that the gum so handled was left in u superior condition, and the smaller sizes of the gum were more easily graded. The chairman stated that the large attendance was gratifying, and that the formation of the company was needed to establish the greatness of the kauri gum industry to which xt would give new life. In answer to questions Mr. Raymond said that the poorer grades of gum could be successfully treated, and the provisional dire-tors and the vending company had agjeed that the cost of treating such qualities should be reduced by half The principle of the sand blast-cleaning, was secured asi a monopoly to the company, and the New Zealand patents covered 14 years Ihe present factory in Auckland was in perfect working order, and by the expenditude of £400, it could with two boys operate upon 600 tons of hard jum per annum. It was for the new directors to decide whether the company would clean for diggers or buy and sell on its own account.

On the motion of Mr. D. Finlayson. seconded by Mr. E. Mandich, the report was adopted, and the following directors were elected for the ensuing year: Messrs. D. Finlayson, Watson, F. J. Dargaville At a subsequent meeting of directors it was resolved to recommend that a factory be established in ?"■"*"•• and it is expected that the plant will be in -running order in four months. «"""k