THE NENTHORN REEFS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8556, 26 July 1889, Page 3

THE NENTHORN REEFS.

TO THS EDITOB. Sic, —With your permission I should like to utter a word of warning to those who are investing their money in the various companies which are being floated to work the reefs at Nenthorn, Everyone mtist admit that if the aeld turns out well it will be a good thing for Dunedinj and indeed for the whole Colony; but it appears to hie that the companies which have up to tho present been offered to the public are far too heavily loaded and have Buch a large number of shares that dividends will be few and far between. Take) for example, the first company floated* the Crresus. It consists of 100,000 shares, of which 80,000 shares paid tip to 2a are retained by the promoters. That is, the promoters get £8000 for a property the value of which has yet to a great extent to be proved. The company has a 10-head battery, which will put through, say, 350 tons of quartss.per month, and unless this .Stone is. exceptionally rich it is evident that a long time must elapse before a dividend can be paid. In spite of this tho shares paid up to 2s are selling at about 3s, whereas the shares (16s lOd paid up) of the Inkerman Company, at Reefton, which has one-fifth the number of shares, a reef and battery twice the size, and is crushing stone equal to ljoss to the ton, are selling at 9s Od. Talriog this as a fair price, the Crceaus shares should be worth not more than Is at the outside. T Another matter t would draw attention to is the exceptionally large commission which some of the companies are paying brokers to induce them to place the shares. I am told that the brokers of the Eureka Company receive 6d for i every share they place, which is double the comI mission usual in such cases. This commission is of course paid by the company, not by the j promoters. j No one can wish more than I do that the field j will prove a success, but if the overloading of companies prevents this» it will do an immense amount of damage to the interests of mining generally in New Zealand. I am induced to write this warning, as I understand that many who are taking up shares in these companies are people who have hitherto not invested in mining shares, and are apt to be dazzled by clererly written prospectuses. —I am, &c. July 22. Respice Finbsi.

Sib,—l have just read with interest your special reporter's article hereon, which appears in your issun of the 20th inst., and with jour permission should like to challenge one statement. He says, under tho heading of "The Nenthorn Reef Gold," that it " haß been proved by assay to be not quite so good as that generally obtained in Otago, and is said to be worth only a little over £3 per ounce" (the italics are mine). Now, while agreeing that in the main the first part of the above sentecce may be correct, I most distinctly disagree with the latter part. As a proof that this is not correct, allow me to give you below an exact copy of the Union Bank of Australia's purchase note of the gold which was the result of the trial crushing of 55cwt of stone *ent to the School of Mines, Ballarat, by tho Victoria Quartz Mining Company. It is as follows:— Weight after melting, lot 12dwt: ns«ay, 21-1-3 j equivalent standard weight, Toe 7dwt 12gr; price per standard ounce, £3 17s 6d ; value, £28"1]B Bd.— (Slgnedi W. BbyAnt (pro manager). The price aotually paid for this gold is, as will bo seen, slightly over £3 15s per ounce; and if worth £3 15s in Ballarat it should surely be worth here (after allowing for all duty and charges) Rt the very least £3 10s to £3 11s. Of course there may be many different qualities of gold on the field, but I think the above may be taken as fairly representative, and at all events be sufficient to prove that it is worth more than " a little over £3 per ounce." There is another slight error in the same paragraph of jour reporter's article, where he men-! tions the Victoria Company's crushing as 2 tons, yielding soz 12dwt, whereas the exact amount of stone treated was 2 tons 15cwt, aud the net yield 7oz 12dwt. I have thought it only right, Sir, in justice to the Nenthorn field, and to correct any false impression which might get abroad thereon, to take exception as above to your reporter's article, the rest of which, as well as the previous ones, have appeared to be very fair and straightforward accounts of the field in general and the several claims in particular.—l am, &c, Naseby, July 23. J. T. Beooke Hicksov.