THE FIRST TAIERI GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2436, 21 November 1900, Page 21

THE FIRST TAIERI GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

An extraordinary general meeting rof the shareholders of the First Taieri Gold Dredging Company (Limited) was held in the Boaid Room, Agricultural Hall, on the 14th inst., to consider the financial position of the company.

and the desirability or otherwise of winding i it up. Mr R. A. Ewmg (chuirman oi directors) presided, and there wc-ie alout 20 others 1 present. j The Chairman, in stating the position of . affairs, said that the dredge vvas bought from : tiie Kyeburn Company, and it was estimated i tint it would coit X 750 to shift it. It was found, however, that the cost amounted to ' £1130. Since the lepans wh.cli Lad been found 1 necessary were completed lour months ago the diedge had been a constant source of -*ony The wages cost the company £534. This seemed an enor_nous sum to pay for wages, but the j directors were powerless. Conflicting leportj i were received concerning tho claim. Mr She.merclme went up with the dredgemaster aboiv. j a fortnight ago, and he reported that there was ' no gold in the claim except surface geld. Against that they had the lerort of Mr Don. who said that the claim should pay handsomely. Regarding that, Mr SheimerJine said that Air Don only saw the surface work ng, and he did not see the results when the dredge touched bottom. The company had been forced by its creditors, some o£ whom, had taken out suru1 monses against it. That meeting hid, therefore, to be called to prevent One or two credi1 torn seizing the dredge. It was for the shareholders to say whether the company should c>o into liquidation or increase tho capital of the company. The directors had no lecommendafion to make, but simply left the whole matter ■ in the hands of the shareholders. i Mr Moir stated that the large ? mount of wages they had been called upon to pay was • jH'incipally in connection with the extra re- ' pairs which had to be effected to the dredge. Very little wages had been paid in connection with the actual working of the dredge. "When the dredge did get to work at a place where they were told good gold could be got the results were very poor. This was afterwards atI tributsd to the fact that the dredge had been ] lifting a lot of silt, a^d it was stated that when it got to where Mr Mickersy had prospected they might look for good returns. R ght up to the present, however, the results were very disappointing. Tery conflicting accounts had been received concerning the prospects of the claim. The directors themselves had gone tip, and every dish of wash they had taken otit showed good payable lesults. Lately Air Don reported, and the report wos favourable. On ths other hand, the dredge had g oc to the beach , where it was supposed it would do well, and the results were very unsatinfactory. Then Mr Shelmerdine wont up, and his opinion was that i. the gold there was principally surface gold. ; He thought, in fairness to the shareholders, j those things should be stated, in older that I they might say whether they would liquidate or increase the capital of the company. • Mr Nimmo asked that Mr Don's report be ; re.id. i Mv Don's report, dated November 1, was read , by the Secretary (Mr Commin), aa»follows : — ! " I have inspected the dredge at work on your > claim on the Taieri River. T find that throtigh , inaccuracies in the construction of some parts of the machinery it is working very unsatisfac- | torily. When I went there the men in charge I could not make the pump draw water. I told j them to put a new face on the air valve, which was all that was wanted to put it right. When they started to work yesterday morning it was found that as soon as the full buckets were ' continuously discharged into the screen it got I choked, through the dumping shute not reachj ing far enough into the screen. A portion of I th' gravel and water makes its way into the i "well through the space between the top end of i the screen and the bottom end of the shute. To remedy this, the screen will have to be shifted forward about two and a-half inches. And, as the shute has too little fall to clear, it will have to be raised a few inches in the upper end. The bottom tumbler of the elevaj tor is not working truly. This also will have j to be attended to. Until these alterations are i made the dredge will have to be run with the , buckets from a half to three-quarters full. The j gold-saving tables have too little fall, consequently too much water has to be used to keep them clear. They ought to have a fall of 1£ inches to the foot. I had no chance of seeing . what proportion of gold ;s lost by the tables, i as that cannot be ascertained until after the, dredge is in full work for some time. I have no doubt but they will lose a considerable portion of the gold. But as the tables are on the same principle as they are on most other dredges, it will be as well to use them in their present position, only making the alteration of giving them more fall. The gold is very scaly, j and hard to save, but I have no doubt but when j the dredge is in full work the claim will pay handsomely." Mr Nimmo observed that Mr Don had not tested the ground. The Chanman stated that Mr Don, accoiding tc Mr Sholinerdme, only saw the dredge when it was .working the toj> stuff. He did not see the dredge down below. Mr Shelmerdine said that the gold did not go down. Mr A. Wright: How much has been paid in wages ? Hie Chairman said that J1'173 had been paid in the course of construction and £564 since | then. Mr Wright said that the dredge was hum- ! bugged from the first. It had never been proi perly built. Mr Shelmerdine said that half the stuff lifted was- not being put through. The Chairman said that the directors were at the mercy of the men who went up to look ! after affairs. The directors were not competent ; engineers, and could not supsrvise the construction of 'the dredge if they did go up. Mr Barr wanted to build the dredge on a different principle by doing away with the screen and putting in a sluice box. From books he (the speaker) had recently received from America, the system adopted there of saving gold in ground such as wa3 found in the Taieri River and on dr3' land claims where gravel and fine wash were met with was invariably the sluice box. They did not tise the revolving screen. The sluice box saved infinitely more, and the expenses of working were not so great. Mr Barr had to consult two others, however, and ( his ideas were not adopted. Mr Shelmerdine said that the dredge was totally unworkable in its present condition, nor was it possible to test the claim with it. He did not think she ever was in a proper condition to do this. At the same time, he personally had a poor opinion of the claim. His idea was that the gold in it was merely surface or drift gold. That was simply his personal opinion. Mr Moloney, a local director, said he was the first that brought this claim undei the notice of the public. He had a great deal of information concerning it, both from his own experience of what men were getting out of it, and from what he was told by men who had

been working there for many years. He de« tailed what a number of miners got out of the cairn, and stated that the gold was there, and the claim was a good one. Mr W. Scott Did yov. not tell me a month ago tint the claim was no good? Mr Moloney: I did not. If ar.jcae says I spoke of the claim like that it is ialse. Mr Scott: Mr Moloney told me tint di». tinc;iy. -Mi Moloney denied it. The Chairman ru.ed the discussion out of order. 'Ihey had met for a dist net purpose. And the meeting would have to confine itself to that. Mr .Moloney continued his lemarks, and stated it was not a fact that the dredge was within a few yards of where the prospecting holes, had bsen sunk. Sne was a long way off it. Things had been badiy managed. There was no use J yivig to conceal thai, fact. The dredge waa biunirg large quantities of coal daily, and othei expenses were being incurred all "tc no purpose.. Mr Nimmo: Why" did you not make a complaint to the other directors? Mr Moloiiey : I did compbin again and again, bxth_ could get no satisfaction. The Chairman observed that Mr Moloney was asked to formulate hia complaint in writing, but he never did so. Ivlr Graham asked if it were title that the dredge had been built by day labour? The Chairman s?:d he did not know. H* was not a director at that t me. Mr Nimmo said that he did not think ths Dnnedin directors were to blamo for the company's position. The only thing he found fatiit with them was in not taking notice of the local director's complaints. Mr Moir said that Mr Moloney's allegations on that head would be contradicted. Mr Guy ton, the dredgemastei, said that the dredge got 15dwt out of 400 yds. She went down 12ft on one side and 7ft on the other. After further discussion, the following resolution was carried, on the motion of Mr Nimmo, seconded by Mr Wright :—" That it has been, proved to the satisfaction of the company that the company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that :t is advisable to wind up the same, and' accordingly the company be wound up voluntarily ; and that the liquidator or liquidators of the company be, and he or they is or are, hereby authorised to make or enter into any such sale or agreement as is contemplated by section 222 of ' The Companies Act, 1852.' '' An aniendme.it, moved by Mr Moloney, that instead of winding up the capital of the com pany be increased, did not find a seconder. Mr T. M. Baldwin was appointed liquid?/tor.