GOLD CZAR DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 20

GOLD CZAR DREDGING COMPANY.

A general meeting of the shareholders of tha Gold Czar Dredging Company was held in the Otago Stock Exchange -ooms on the 29th, for -the purpose of leceiving and considering the reports of the engineer and directors regarding the claim. Mr P. Miller (chairman of directors) presided, and there weie 18 present. The- Chairman said that the position of affairs was fully explained in the reports which had' been forwarded to the shareholders. He had nothing further to add beyond what the reports contained. The following are the reports referred to.: — -.. " The directoss in their repoit stated that before adopting the agreement of sale, Messrs 1. . Miller," 3. -H Carter, and Hart (directors). Mo Roberts (engineei), and Mr Michelle (one Oi the . vendors) inspected the claim. The report went - on to say that " the engineer advised , that six • bores be put down at points indicated by him to find the depth of ground and ascertain the lie of the reef known to run through the property. Messrs Miller and Carter being satis- ' fled "that the value of the property conic! only, be determined by carrying out the engineer's recommendation, and, with 'the sanction, of their co-diiectois, informed* Mr Michelle thpfc the directois would require" the vendors to ' spend £100 in boring under the supervision of an expert to be appointed and paid by the company. Mr Michelle admitted the necessity for bonng, and premised, a reply after conratthgi

Tirith his co-vendors. Mr Michelle's reply is printed below. Your directors aio of opinion that the vendors arc the persons best able to judge of the character and value of the claim and- the position of the reef,* and as the company were esked to pay them XIOOO in cash and give 2000 paid-up shares foi the propeity, water rights, etc., they ought to have willingly met the directors and accepted the offer made to them. As, however, the vendors declined to do this, your directors also declined to accept the responsibility of taking over the claim and involving the company in a risk the extent of which they could not estimate." Mr P. Miller, in his report, stated : — " We found a considerable portion of the claim, on the side facing the river, has been sluiced away by the vendors. A portion of the upper end of the ground carries" the reef near the surface. There is still a considerable poiticn of this ground to work, and, if dredgeable, would last for some time. The reef seems to rise from the river up to the end of the present workings, and is believed to take a dip inwardly, but there is a considerable doubt on the matter in the minds of all who examined same, including Mr Michelle, the vendor. "We have, on the recommendation of our engineer, requested the vendors to put down six bores, along the road lino boundary of claim, to determine same, at a cost not to exceed £100. Should it, however, cost more, the company to pay any additional amount; also, the company to appoint a competent man, at their own cost, to superintend and report result of boring to the satisfaction of our, engineer. I may here say the wash in the claim looks good, and has been prayed to' be gold-bearing. The water in the" claim, seems abundant to work a dredge, anil we are assured_by Mr Hart, the local director, that the rights are all good and in order. The large dam on, the claim will, I fear, be "difficult to manipulate, as #art of the present workings are'close upon it. Should the ground prove to be dredgeable, the engineer will require to report fully on 'the method of working the claim, which will not be overcome without difficulty, as the darn occupies such a largo area, with a danger of breaking away. On Saturday evening Mr ilichelle cams into Roxburgh to meet your directors, and discussed the matter of the bores. He seemed favourable to the demand, and admitted the necessity of same, bub requested time to consult with the other vendors, and inform us of the lesulfc in a few days, as one of the vendors resides a considerable distance from Roxburgh." Mr J. H. Carter in his report states : — " There is no doubt that ..good gold has been obtained in this claim by sluicing, but_ thete are one or two important matters that should be made clear before it would be wise to attempt building ?. dredge. First, there is a reef of rock rising from the ri^er, and csn he seen where the ground has been sluiced. It v. aa stated by Mr Michelle, one of the vendors, who was with us, Lhat the reef dips when near the top of the claim. The fact is that if it did not dip the ground would be very shallow; then, again, if the iesf dipped considerably ,the gicund might be very deep, and possibly would not pay to diedge^ What our engineer advised was that at least six bores shoiild be put down in various pieces at the top portion of the claim, near the road, so as to 'test the depth of ground, and see how the reef lay. We considered that, owing to the fact that a large amount of cash — viz., £1000, — in addition to 2000 fully-paid vendors' shares, e.ich at jgl, was to be paid for the claim, that the vendors should go to the expense of at least JBJOO, if riecessaiy, .to prove the value oi the claim for dredging ; any money necessary to be spent above, the £100 the company to pay ; also, the boring to be under the control of an expert appointad by the company, who would pay his expenses only. On the evening of Saturday, July 14, 1900, one of the vendors, Mr Michelle, met Messrs Miller, Hart, and myself E>t Roxburgh, and we held a long consultation, and we gave Mr Michelle plainly to imdersta-nd that unless the vendors were prepared to sjend money in proving whether the claim was dredgeable or not, we, as directors, should not feel inclined to go any further. Mr Michelle said that personally "he would be willing to do so, but he had to cons.ult his mother and brother, and would let us know later on by letter. As regards the water, there is a large dam, and possibly plenty of water for dredging purposes ; but it is not yet ceitain whether the ground is sufficiently tight to hold the water when being dredged. -It is v«ry important that this should bo tested. Speaking for myself alone, I consider that should the company take over the claim from, the vendors they will be paying full value for it if everything is proved satisfactory. Unless the vendors are prepared to spend sufficient money to prove to the satisfaction'of our engineer that the ground is dredgeable, and would pay to "" dredge. I would advise that the company decline to take over the claim. (Fortunately the directors have not yet signed the documents takingj-pver the claim from the vendors.)" The Engineer (Air C. Roberts) reported as iollows-:i ollows-: — " The claim is the next claim below' the Coal Creek Flat Company's claim, and is purely a bank claim. The claim lies between the main road to Alexandra and the Molyneux River, as per map in your -possession. The surface of the claim, before being disturbed by sluicing, would be terraced. The lower terrace, part of which still remains undisturbed in the upper part of the claim, would be about 70ft above the river level, and the back terrace, or higher terrace, rising some 10ft higher on a level with Coal Creek Flat. The edge of the higher or back terr? ce is about lh chains away fiorn the road at the upper end of the claim, and would then follow a curved line, coming out to the river at the lower end of claim. A considerable portion of the lower terrace (and in the lower half of the claim) has been stripped by giounde sluicing, and a o far as these workings have extended the reef is seen to be rising from the river till at the last part worked — at the end of clam, close to where the tail race i& shown on the plan — the leef is about ISft below the surface. At the lower end of the clfim, and nearer the river, we were informed that the old miners had been unable to - reach bottom. At the upper end of the claim in the lower terrace, the reef is found near the surface. It may, therefore, be considered that about one-half of the claim, on the lower terrace and nearest to the river, has been either worked or is unfit for working by a dredge, with the exception of the small piece at the lower end of the claim, where a deep channel is supposed to exist. This channel is supposed to run from the lower end of claim (where there is a deep gut favouring the idea), and to extend along the back of the claim between the worked portion of the- ground and the main road. If so, the reef must clip suddenly into the flat a little further back than the present workings. As the matter could not be settled except in a practical manner, I recommended to the directors present with me that a line of (say) six holes should be bored parallel ,\vith the road, and on the assumed line of deep channel. If the ground proves deep enough and rich enough, a dredge could then be built to work it, commencing at the dam and working downwards .towards Roxburgh. As the claim even then would be limited in area, I (Would counsel that thorough prospecting should "he resorted to, to prove whether the ground ■would warrant the expenditure of much Messrs E. and T. Michelle's letter, refeired to in the directors' report, was as follows: — "Having duly considered your proposal to us jto spend £100 in boring, we do not think we are entitled to bore for the company, as the directors stopped us from working the claim; .therefore we think if the directors were entitled,

[ to stop us they arc also entitled to bore the claim. We aie, therefore, agreeable to stand to our first agreement, and as ,£SOO was due to us on the 22nd of June last, we now give the directors one month from this date in which to fulfil the agreement between us and the company." The reports were received and adopted. Mr A. S. Adams moved, and Mr Ackroyd seconded — " That the directors be institicted to take the necessary steps to have the company wound up." The motion, being put, was carried unanimously.