A SERIOUS OUTLOOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 1951, 11 April 1889, Page 12

A SERIOUS OUTLOOK.

The following cablegram from London (conlauues the Times) appeared in the daily papers on Thursday : — It is rumoured that Sir Robert Stout has been instructed to commence an action against Mr J C Brown, agent and vendor of the Blue Spur mines by the London directors of the Blue Spur and Gabriel's Gully Consolidated Company. He haf> also been instructed, if possible, to rescind the contract. The contents of the above cablegram circulated very rapidly on Thursday afternoon, and caused somethiug like a sensation in tha district. Great anxiety wag manifested by numerous interest^d; Dasti^s aft to. Sw &>be?s Stout's opinion

on the subject. J£ o|fi ff jj o a pp rO ached v Sir **??!!£ rtfeikoe thereto were given to understand" by him that he kn,ew. nothing whatevet about it^not&irig more-, Meed, tI«Q his inter, rogatorj ijnaw of it. „ Sir Robert) however, informed some of the clalmowners that ifjanything so unpleasant did occur, the original owners and not Mr J. C. Brown would most likely be the parties,proceeded against, Mr Brown being) he sjtfttsedi merely the agent accredited with tnfi disposal of tho properties. - This*, It 'My be said, was not regarded ;n ft Very serious light by those favoured with i£e communication. There is an old adage which says that " advice gratuitously given is not worth having"; and, in the instance referred to, the old saw loses none of its wisdom. The subject is not one of any great complexity and requires no great amount of legal acumen to ttn° derstand it. The authof s of that compendious, document) novtbrefcty widely known as the prospectus of the Blue Spur and Gabriel's Gully Consolidated Gold Company, are, we should assume, alone responsible for anything that may be deemed worthy of action at law. And, in any case, it is not improbable that the artists whose genius is immortalised in tfa^fc inbhuth'etlt&l work may yet be called ttrion for , Very full and cjrcumstftntfol efylaqationg. . gp far as we can gather* thejar'ecfous do'cupient, did nqt emanate frotfi the original /claimhojde'rs^ nteitheri 6d , far we know^wa's &b their dictation. Ffoni ( what we know rathe Blue Spur miners, we . 'e'ertainly would not give them the, doubtful credit of being the authors of such a document/bristling, as it is, with statements of a most unwarrantable character. The time is hardly opportune at present for us to go into these statements and speak of them as they deserve. Some time since we. Outlined. thb salient features of thq, prospectus '; and we shall agaitt) BffiSjtj )j>r6fasly., tase an early opportunity of placing it in a still more attractive form before the public. , The outcome just now is , somewhat problematical ; but it is almost certain au ©fforfc'will be made ,to rescind the, 00U,tracl;i^8 ths dable states. .TJjere js^afc .the same itli^rodm 1 to doubt the success of aubh ati uhdeffcaking. It would be the Beginning of a costly and endless litfgalidh. The only hope we see for the company, in the event of their inability to complete the contract, lies in liquidation. Of course it is premature as yet to speak of such an unpleasant alternative, as Sir Robert Stout is sanguine of getting either the whole or part of the money out before the end of the month, tt is tiertain, however, that the glory of the 'eoiftpany is considerably dimmed 5, &hdth: at its affairs are not quite in the Condition that the Home shareholders looked for 1 .