MINIG.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11950, 25 January 1901, Page 6

MINIG.

. , — -~* * Hifl «turo from *• Jonathan .dredge last (says the Grey Rivcf Argus) 570z *- l od w tietorte3g^ fromloflMM,ytam!,,ii ' lnl The HicbMds's Bock dredgonaster reports having rammed dredging on Tuesday at 1 P While the furore of dredging fills alll m.nds/ those luoty miners who strike a- good thing in oC Wchcs aro allowed to revel quietly in their luck, Tie OconmU Argus tori that • local tarty enraged in Mocking out a claim at Qua-rte lid have cleared over JfIOOO pel man during tho last two years, and are still on the ' K run. In ono placo, wo bolicvo, tho prospects ■£ vient lib wcignti to tho dish. aMrUIL ,-V« ...MTTT-in

NOTES FROM ALEXANDRA. . . ■ fFaou Otie OwH-CoßEEsroKDElrr.) ~ „ , : ALEp.KDRA, January 24. The Molyncux i&, about 7Jit above normal. Iho Enterprise No.,l'dredge started work this week, after ofecting repairs a J i M w Manorbura 'caused by a .severe silted up the Morning Star drecige. The operatidhs necessary to get the dreMge at work again are proceeding. NOTES FROMWAKATIPU.(FjOJI ODB OWH CORBESPONDENT,) Arrpwtown, January 18.-There is quite a boat, of reasons, to account for the paucity of dredgmg returns.;". First, there is the high /state of.the rivers, and the consequent tailings trouble;, next, the holidays.; and last, raougb not. least, the new regulations' requiring dredgema3tci-3,-to be certificated onginc- . drivers- Whatever'might be said for or against'the innovation, or the good sense of it,' reasonable time should have been given dredOemasters to ...qualify .themselves. In mnay cases it would be difficult for them to i'.nd a substitute .'on, the spur, of the moment, (absenting themselves.'for a week or so. Un'Uer' the circumstances there is likely to ba. a run on. 'certificated engine-drivers beyond the supply,-, nicking the cnginodrivcrs the bosses of the situation, and no doubt a goodly number.will'slip'into the naaiton of dredgemaster, as no .other ,qualih\-:..;0n than that, they ..hold :a 'certificate -.as eng'inedrivcr is: needed, though 'they may bo totally ignorant of managing ' a dredge or panning out ' a dish of washdirt. That is .the position of affairs at present.. Where the sense comes, in of dredge«masters, being required to ba cnginedrivers it is not easy to. discern; It. seems that New

| Zealand legislators; have a peculiar hankering jor certificated.,: vthis, that, and the 'other thing, until it is scarcely possible for any' one to hold a position of any kind, outsideJhat of getting into Parliament and being-legislators—neither certificate nor qualification being required for that. What is really wanted on board a dredge is a simple yet comprehensive code of signals for the purpose of-communicating orders, and a ready means of transmitting ■ thorn, As to thp means of transmission, experience pointed to the whistle'ns the easiest carried, most | readily used, and most distinct!/ to be heard. It would bo easy to agree upon a eodo of signals. Many:' art accident to machinery- and crew might: be'.'prevented or mitigstcd by tho adoption'of a-code of signals. Signals arc understood and obeyed than word 3 of month,' leaving'.'out of the consideration that there are weak voices, and ears hard of hearing. Mining and dredging news is still scarce, but a flood in the hitter line may be expected, when the rivers go down, which they are apparently very slow in doing. The Arrow Flat Hydraulic Company washed down last Wednesday afternoon, obtaining 20oz lOdwt for eight days' actual working time. Tho result,-of course,-speaks for itself. It is likely that there is a prosperous summer's work beforo the company. Everything being in good going order, work in the claim is likely to progress nt a smoother rate than the frequent trouble, with the race hitherto exuerienced permitted., '" The Arrow Junction dredge is now finishing- off machinery, housing in, . etc. The I winches, which arrived recently, ■ are in position—in fact, were it not for being kept waiting for tho steam pipes and other trifles, the dredge might be got ready for starting work in a week or so. ' Tho Arthur's Point hydraulic tributers cleaned up a three weeks' run of the boxes, obtaining 20oz of gold. The Arthur's Point dredge is coming on very well. Most of the machinery is in its pla<-e, and near by everything required is upon the ground, so that it may he expected that the middle of next-month, ifnot earlier, will see the dredge at work. NOTES FROM TUAPEKA. fFnnii Oun Wetkerstoses Correspondent.) January 21—The races being over, all the miners and other workers have returned to their different employments. The races did not interfere with the working of the hydraulio claifns, which kept steadily at it all tha while. • The Golden Rise kept the elevator going all alorg, but, one man being sufficient on the shift to work the claim, the others went to the races. The same remark can be applied to the dredge,-, only it requires two men on the shift.

Tho Golden Crescent finished their last paddock on Thursday, the 17th, and I believe they got 30oz for eight days' elevating. The Golden Crescent 'having two sets of stands and rails, it docs not fake them long to commence a new paddock, which they did last Saturday afternoon.

Tlie contractors for the Happy Valley dredge have not made a commencement yet. Some of the machinery is slowly arriving. The ladder and rollers and what looks like the firp-box and part of the chimney arrived on the ground last week.

NOTES FROM GREY VALLEY (W.C.) (From .Opt. Owh Cop.respondzot.)

January H.—Yesterday the very successful launch of the pontoons of the Orwell' Creek Gold Dredging Company took pk.ee. Fully 100 from different parts aseerr-blcd to witness what was regarded as one of the most important factors for the revival of th» long-suspended working of a rich auriforous lead, which .has been lying dormant for so many years.. Punctually at 2 o'clock the company's engineer, Mr M'Quecn, arrived, and after a careful examination with the contractor, Mr Fitzgerald, the orcfer was given to let go. Without the slightest hitch the huge monster plunged gracefully into tho dam awaiting her, at tho same time receiving the customary bottle of champagne aud appropriate christening by Mrs Erickson. The contractor deserves to 1» highly complimented on the excellent workmanship nnd finish' of these pontoons. Several of those present woll acquainted with this class of work freely expressed their opinion as to tViis being one of tho best-built pontoons yet launched on the coast.

I do not think that I have yet brought before your readers tho high opinion in which the company's engineer, Mr M'Queen, is he'd by tho Grey Valley public. This was well evidenced yesterday by tho many kind, grestings extended towards him. Although being oily recently located here, his frank and straightforward transactions havo earned the esteem and regard of everyone that ho has bson brought in contact with. Through all sorts of weather and rough country he is always periodically inspecting the construction of tho many different dredges .entrusted to him. I have previously pointed out tho necessity of this class of man for the thorough development of the dredging industry, and I am very pleased to note that the Dunedin' investors havo chosen such a straightforward and carefur officer.

The Erickaon Reward dredge is progressing fairly well, and ought to be completed in a few weeks, the only drawback being the absence of machinery; which no doubt will soon be overcome now that tho engineers are on the claim.

To date thero are no returns for tho year from any of the Grey Valley working dredges, excepting tho Waipune, whoso return was Hoz for the week ending last Saturday. Tho Grey River, Nelson Creek, and Ford's Creek are working steadilyThe Ahaura, River dredge is getting her machinery on hoard, and should commenco working in tho course of a few wcaks. Tho Great Lead Company's pontoons will be ready for launching in a few days.

LONDON MINING NOTES. (From Our Own CottßJtapoumjvT.l

LONDON, December 14. WaiteeaiiJu Extended.

Rather a stormy meeting of the Waiteksuri Extended Company was held on Monday last at Winchester House, E.C., for the purpose of considering nroposals to reconstruct the company. Mr 6. Hardio nierided. The director? and a roramitteo of shareholders recommended the following scheme:— " (1) A new company bearing the same name or other name approved by the directcs of the existing company, to be registered under ' The Companies' Acts, 1862 to 1809,' with a memorandum and articles in the terms of the dralts already prepared and approved by the said directors. (2) The capital of tho new company to ho £175,000, divided.into 350,000 shares of 10s well. (.1) Messrs G. Hardie; J. W. Brigstock. and R. J. Price, M.P., to be the first directors of the said new, company. (4) The undertaking to be made over to the new company upon the terms of the draft reconstruction agreement already prepared and approved by the said directors. (5) The new company to undertake all the' debts and liabilities of the existing company, including its debenture debt, and to pay the costs and expenses of winding it up. (0) The sum of 410,41210s cash receivable under the reconstruction agreement to be applied in paying off the priority shares in accordance with the terms on which tho same wore issued—viz,, 12s Gd per share. (7) The 313,340 shares of 10s each, with 7s nor share credited as paid up. to be appropriated for distribution among the holders of tho 333,340 ordinary ohares in the existing company—viz., share for share. The 3s liability tobe payable as follows':— 6d per share on applicat'on. Is per share on allotment; and the balance in calls of not more than 0d per share .»t intervals of uot less than three months. (Sj Tho reconstruction to be carried out under faction 161 of 'Ths Companies Act, ISG2,' and accordingly the existing company to go into voluntary liquidation, and to' authorise the liquidator to cany out the reconstruction immediately, bo that there may be no intcmiptW of business. (9) With all convenient speed the existing company to be dissolved."

After some discussion, the proposals to reconstruct wore carried, but a noil was demanded. This will-be'.taken on Monday next. Royal Oak, op Hauraki.

A special and largely-attended meeting of shareholders in the Royal Oak, of Hauraki, was 'held on Wednesday at Winchester House. Mr G. Hardie. presided; The meeting was held for the purpose of confirming or otherwise dealing with resolutions to reconstruct, proposed on November 26, a report of tho proceedings at which date I have already forwarded to you. There .was some demur on the part of,a section of the shareholders;, hut eventually the resolutions were confirmed by a largo majority.

i THE GOLDEN MOLYNEUX GOLD i- DREDGING COMPANY (LIMITED). ! ].' .' \ ' TO THE EDITOR. Sm,-Thi report just issued by this company is very unsatisfactory, and would seem to indi- '■ cafe that the subscribers-assuming they cwrS cftcd any choice in tho matter-have been very ! ' ilnfortuno-*- <"" the selection of persons to guard ; ; ■ their lutcests.- The report practically admits i that the claim has never been tested, and states ; ■ that the directors havo been waiting in the hope ; that the operations of the IFoiirteen-m.;e Beach j ! Company on their, ground would justify tins ; : company in commencing work., inat is a very \ | .weak admission for the director* to rnako, seei ing that their accounts prove that ..they have j paid £2000 in-hard cash for the purchase of ; the property, 'Just fancy paying £2000 to a ; rirdpe;tyas.a-'"gold claim without having it ■ te=tcd to see if it'is a gold claim or has any | real value! The-report furnishes no mforraa- j tion ai' to the names of tho vendors-nominal or j ■ actual,-or as to the names of the persons who, j nominally, or actually, representee; the company and guarded- its interests in this connection. : '. If this company's claim is unproved and other ; claims in the locality are also unproved, what | aossiblo justification could the directors have ; ■ fiad for paying away.£2ooo for its P«<*/f ? * j hopo that when the meeting is held on the 23tli , '.inst. the directors will make a full disclosure j, ns to the reason and mode; of purcnase, the persons interested in the sale, and tho persons ! who acted for the company. At present share- , holders are without any'information on theso , . points, and in view of tho large sum paid for ;, an unproved property we are well entitled to ; ask for them.. Tho reoort goes on to show that i durin»'tho year. £ 231 was paid for cost of flota- ; ' tiou £65 in directors' feeß„£6s to the secretary, i and 'i 65 for law costs. Seeing that tho property ; is unproved and nothing done, perhaps ths \ directors will inform ns what return tney and ; the secretary and the solicitor havo made tho i company for tho various payments mado to j them rcsoectivcly. As proof that I am not one i of thoso'who object to everything, I may say ■ that there is one item of expenditure—" care- ; taker of-tho.claim, £10"—which I thoroughly 1 approve of. Ho is the man who for 13 months [ ~ past has taken care that no company urouibtcr ; or oompany promoter's agent jumped this claim \ and sold it to a lot of softies for another £2000. || Hi", at any .rate, lm performed a great public li service, and I am proud to have contributed , towards his remuneration.—l nm, etc., '■ SIIAHEIIOMER. | ALPINE EXTENDED G OLD ' MINING i ' ,v COMPANY (LIMITED). ' | TO THE EDITOR. j . SIP„-In reply to " Shareholder's" letter in j your, issue of January 3 , >" which ho asks if ; the directors gave tho tributers £79 of the ! company's money, I may inform him that they j did give that amount. According to the Min- I ing Act I think tributers can claim half wages, ; and the £79 refunded by the directors only j gave £1 is 3d per man per week. After working hard for eight weeks we sent 527 tons to ; tho battery, which gave a 1 return of about ?Jdwt to the ton, or Gloz for the whole-value ; . £2iS." Now the directors'charged us 5s per ton ; for crushing, .or £131 15s. In addition to this j the company received Is par ten for the sand ; Ironi the' Cyanide Company, which makes tho : actual 2ihount received by the company £158 i 2s. Wo had also to pay a wages man £21 for ! seven weeks. This, togother with expenses for' '. explosives, candles, and horse-feed, left a net balance of £30 to bo divided among 13 tri- i buters for eight weeks' work, or about Is 6d ! per man per dt.y. I am quoting these figures to show " Share- j holder" that tho directors did not ruin the I company by their gonerosity. But " Shareholder" has evidently been mis- j informed. I may state, that it i 3 well known i who lia is, fiad also his informant, but. his informant is not- consistent, seeing that some few years ago.he also had s>, tribute, tho first crushing paying wages, but the next only giv- i ing him £2 per week. Ho then appealed to the j directors to Tofund . him .an amount to brng it up to wa»es, which thev i did. Ho did not think they were doing an ] injuatico to tho shareholders,, oh, dear no! but I since then he h»a altered his opinion, I may ; say that ho had been working for a number of years for the company, but some few months ago he was dischnrgcd/switli a batch, of others, j becaus3 th&ro was not sufflciont work for tho 1 number of han&i then employed; henco his | present altitude. Had he been kept in em- j ployment the mauageniont would have.been S pertcct. Boini} a : shareholder, he ] thinks (with.the half-yearly meeting coming' 5 on) it is a. grand time to create ft disturbance i and upset the present directory with a view of j getting envoloymont (should there be any re- | quired) by tho nsw. A I do' not intend to deal with any other 1 matters in " Shareholder's " letter, o.s they do j not concern me, but I think they are mostly frivolous and rot worthy of notice. Apolojisin!! for taking up eo much vn'.uablo space, and thanking you in anticipation,'—l am. etc, WILUUI P. PiiTES, . One of the tributers. ' Rrefton, January 21. MR J. J. RAMSAY AS A CRITIC. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—There is.a familiar story ot a Scottish nobleman; finding one of his aheph'ords poring over-"Paradiao Loit," and asking him what 1 ho was leading. " Please, your lordship," was j the answer, " this, is a very odd sort of an j author. H« fain would rhyme, but cannot 1 get at! it." The shepherd could have undor- j stood Allan Hameay; but Milton was out of his j

reach. . j The a*tempt at criticism by Mr Ramsay in J tho form of a letter which appears in your issuo j of to-day, on tho report of an interview by a j . presumnn with Mr Sligo, who had been cm a j visit to tho West Coast, is very amusisg. He $ has written somef»h*i agsin«t Mr Sligo ior not j making an elaborate s'.atemeut about prop»ity j which he (Mr Sligo) did not go to inspect, and j for giving an (splauntion about claims, or pio- j perty, whioh he expressly went to visit. Mr j llainsay uannot understand why a report on pio- 3 perty with which he may be connected was j withhe!d,aud vice vers*. This method of deal- j ! ing with definite business seems inexplicable I to him, and at which he Ukes serious umbrage, t i lamat a loss to understand why Mr Kam- j Say is so porfiirbc-d at the publication of the j rcpoit, unlcsr. it be that Mr Sligo did not write j sufficiently in detail on property with which' I Mr Ramsay may be connected, while he natur- i ally gave more attention to claims which ho > I specially went to sec. Or there may be some | ] other explanation—a little jealousy, perhaps,— J and that may account for the complexity of the i letter. ; j Newton, I think it was, ifour.d a star, i ; examined through a glass, tarnished by smoke, \ ; was diminished into a speck of light. i The bar crossing the river has not been dis- J ! covered by Mr llainsay, and therefore he con- j i eludes that it'was non-exi3tent. This is. a very | ; crudo and youthful procedure, and similar to 3 : the methods of, too many people—namely, what I ! is unknown to him is impossible to others, i IHe scorns to'have aii entire disbelief in things, j ! simply becauso they are contrary to his exi, perience. j ] Ido not profess to be an expert m mining, j : although I have travelled in many lands and !

S visited n groat number of mines, but tho report of the interview wob an exceedingly fair and careful statement of facts, as far ae one [j can judge from reports of that nature—l am, |' etc., R; Spragtie.

DREDGING PROSPECTS. TO THE EDITOR

Sip.,—The coining winter is full of promise for investors in dredging stock. The Arrow Junction and other dredges, down to the Kawarau Gorge, will have started with a promise of rich returns. The Magnetic is on her old rich run again, .and will give tho best of the dredges', a task to beat her returns. The prospects from the Magnetic down are great, and from a- personal knowledge I expect to seo big results from dredgea in the vicinity of Cromwell, and down the gorge to Clyde. The ground from the Clyde bridge to the Manuherikia has long proved itself of vast and permanent value. So. far as dredges are concerned, the Alexandra-Roxburgh gorge is untried, but

| there is no. shadow of doubt about the result, j,' and the "grand old Tiver will prove her richness 5 here as in other localities. It is hard to under--1 stand the dilatory manner in which the CharlI ton water difficulty is being tackled. Surely | the Waircori difficulty of several years ago | should show Government how to deal with 1 this puzzle. If these dredges are to close down I for several years pending the solution, I think I ■ it would be a disgrace to our Minister of Mines. B Turning to tho West Coast, wo have every rcah sou to_be hopeful of the future, as the Grey | River and Waipuna dredges have proved.—l I am, etc.. ■ Investor. | Dunedin, January 22. I PAUL'S £EAOH DREDGING COMPANY. I . TO TJIE KDITO?t. u Sm,—Some considerable time ago a letter apI peared signed "More Light," and an explana- | tion was published thereto stating that the M dredge would be shifted to Paul's Beach claim | after the next meeting of directors, if not bc- | fore. The. meeting has been held, and still no I steps have been taken- to move the dredge. | The gold v/on to date is not sufficient to war- | rant the dredge being kept where she is for I another moment.- Humour hath it that there I is likely to be a law case between tho contracI tors of the new dredgo and the Paul's Bench | Company. If so. the, sooner the shareholders a know the facts the .better, and they should be i]' explained at the general meeting. lam c- lirge ! shareholder, and am of opinion that the whole circumstances governing the purchase of the Sunlight dredge should be laid bore. Probably . this will also be explained. For tho company ■ to still keep on as thoy are now doing is tho ■i. hcifht of folly, and-can only h»ve one result, ij. Rather than continue so, I would favour liquiS. dalion straight off, and thus save a few frag- |: inents.—l am, etc.,. i Another Shaeeholder No. 2.