UNPAID CALLS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6861, 3 July 1909, Page 13

UNPAID CALLS

GOLD MJNE OWNERS' TROUBLES. AUCKLAND, July 2. The unsuspecting innocent who buys gold mining shares realises not always (say the "Star") • the possibilities his purchase bpens up to him. Occasionally his scrip.may make another transfer without any great loss to the hopeful speculator. It is on record that profits have been made by such transactions; on' the other hand, he may, by the simple purchase of such and such promising stock at so many pence or shillings per paper share, become the beneficiary of a legacy possessing almost infinite possibilities, for ho now acquires obligations to keep up his end of responsibility as a shareholder who, in the nature of tilings, has tho privilege of participating, unwittingly, perchance, in all the profits and losses and working expenses of that mine of which he is a part-owner. A fruitful source of outlay to the shareholder i» the call —simple and harmless- enough looking in its individual proportion | of one penny, say, per share—but< at times a most embarrassing quantity to tlie calculations of him who has bought on the everlasting "spec" fcr profit. Sometimes when a call is announced, the- dismayed shareholder prefers rathei to forfeit'than h 053 and pay up, and after doing so he heaves a final sigh of relief, something to the effect, "Well, that was tho best way to settle that little matter after all; and I'm well rid of the wholo business." Sometimes ho is rid of it, and ) sometimes his cup of chagrin is not yet full. So was it in the case of several ex-share-holders against whom judgment was asked and given in the Jlagistrate's Court yesterday—shareholders who must <iow discover that their privileges do not end 'with forfeiture. There is still the unpaid call to settle should tho snares fail to attract other traffickers when put to auction.