ISLAND BLOCK EXTENDED GOLDMINING COMPANY. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2173, 17 October 1895, Page 19

ISLAND BLOCK EX TENDED GOLDMINING COMPANY. TO THE EDITOR.

j?ir, — I 6ee by your report of the extraordinary meeting, itld last Monday, of the above cotpptny that its bffiirs are to ha handed over to a Hqu"'d(»tor to be wound up. So the end has come. And what an ending for the poor unfortunate sharehold< im who wore fome five years ago asured by the present directors of the comiany tbat if the management of affcirswere only given to Ihein thst they, being so cure of the value of the property, would s-on pull things straight, pay all credtors, ar.d have the • mine on the dividend • poying litt within a very few months. Had practical men bo spoken and knew at the time what tLey were unde' taking to do, and detrained lo do it honestly, they would ia all probability have Leeu ab!e to cany out th ir boast, ac, eve:ytbiog being in tLeir favour, nothing should bave *t >r-pcd them from mßking tho mine pay,*«fter a little, g< od and corstaut dividends. When they (the prof-cut directors) undertook thu managenienb of s ffairs thu company was indebted fi'..mi thing under £5000, sgair.st which there was over £2000 owing to to the company by the way of unoalk-d capital and ch)lj in arreais, leavi"g a deb t balancu of less than £3000. To liquidate this atronnt, and provide a iittlo workii\g caj.ibal bwideß. the shareholders subecribid a sjm of over £3000, for which tbty r< catted debentures. As the gold won fiom tre claim since an'.oun's in v»i«e to over £13,000 one may well won da* wh^t can iavt leivme if all this rotney, more es, ccally consiuemig io works buvo been constructed if you txctpb tre r»i itig of tbe c'aai which ctsb only a tew hundreds. The whole of this ramey— v',z , £17,000— h»», one may any, been squandered and frittered awßy, for, I vcnUre to cay, the liquid* t^r will flud after be gets in nil creditoro' accounts that i;tb!o will ba lefb oub of £3COO, r-hould be e\eu bo fortuuate enough •to geb thf.t amouub fir the property, to livid OTertotho debriilurt-holderp, ritsr pkying all creli^ors in full. Wtat, I hhoil'l think, vflll rurpriw many eh*rth- Pers is to find that tbe few who ftitmded tbe eztr* oidinary meeting held on the 30th ult. carried, on the motion of Mr John Thompson, a hearty vote of tba'iks to the directors for their fervices during Ihe past five jears Whnt irony, conMuaring the wretoU'd paw thty have brought the company to, through I suppose want of knowledge of perhaps evea the simplest affairs in mining Long exp(ri«uce, combined wHh ft thorough knowledge of rnance, are qualities gc erally Euppoeed necefsnry for men to possess be r ore beiug appointed as ronnagem or directors o? our bfti.ks, insurance wmpanits, and other Urge monetary institution*. Now, if tba 1 ; is so, how is it tbat nv-n with no knowledge wh^tGrtr of mining, bud roSßrflß-dr oSßrfl8 -d Belf-assuranoe in pleuly, consider tb*y are fit and proper persoas to control aud direct tbe nff iir6 of large mining companus, more often than Dot involving tho tnsnipulation of many thousands of pounds. No wonder, with such nuinßgeinonr, nearly all of this kind of company come to gritf. When the directors of the company now under ditcu^sion took office, pba-os in the compnuy were i-tauding at about 8s esch. Twci-tj-five thousacd at that price means £10,000, which 'amount, I consider, may fairly be added to the £17,000 previously referred to, which, according to yi ur report, these sapient managers ba\e received a vote of thanks from tbe chareho^dcra for losing for them. The minirg iroperty, plnut, race, dam, and water rights b.-longing to tho company, I yv suuie, will be sold in ci.o lot, and by auction, as letommeuded by the fcharcholders at the mieting. It would be int-erefting to kuow who the actual parcha.' erR are, and to follow up the future fortuues of tho mice, for to doubt its good qunlil/es would be silly, after tf-o ippo.ted ftsserlious of many piMcfcical pion who know tho piopeity and b ok upon it a-? bfeiug sreond to none on the river for goldgiving properties if properly worked. The reason shareholders have allowed this valuable pro-perby to slip from their grasp can only be accounted for by assuming that they have got thoroughly s'ck and tired of the humbug of the whole thing — having been called together so often by the directors, and threatened on more than ono occasion by circular, &o. with liquidation unices more capital was subscribed or other arrangements mado, — and so are now glad to end the matter, even if at tho loss of all. But, before giving up all to tho liquidator to wind up, the wonder is why one of two offers was not accepted, as neither would have entailed any further loss on the shareholders while being tried for either eucceas or failure. One of the offers was made, I have heard, by Mr O. C. Rawlins, the well-known manager of the Island Block Company, and tho other by a partyof practical men, who offered to work tho claim for a term for the company on the understanding that all wages were to be paid out of proceeds of gold gained only, and any eurplus (if any) handed over to tliß company. Their wages, nominally, were to be at tho ordinary rates, but, as said before, paid only in the event of sufficient gold b.irg got by them, otherwise pro rata according to what was got. Just previous to the meetiDg of the shareholders conventd by tbe directors for July 18 laat fttos of

gold— say £275— was got in a very Bhort while by a small party of meu working tbe claim under an arrangement with tha directors ou just such terms. Now this must havo left, after the won were paid the ir wages iv ful), a vtry handsome surplus fcr the cr-mpauy. As theoo men or others were perfectly willing, as I underatand, to continue on under the sr.mo terms, why were they not allowed to do so ?—? — I am, &'»., Dunedin, October 4. A Sufferer.