WAIPORI GOLD LEAD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 21

WAIPORI GOLD LEAD DREDGING COMPANY.

The first annual meeting of shareholders in the Waipori Gold Lead Dredging Company wa's >'hela at Wood's Hotel on Friday evening. There - were about a dozen shareholders present, and ;Mr S. S. Myers (chairman of directors) presided. "~ > •. The following was the annual report pre- ' sented: — ""Your directors beg to submit the balance sheet for the year ending 30th September, 1900. No time was lost by us in getting the Record Keign dredge removed from where she was lying at Lawrence to the nearest available site for erection on the Wainori claim. Owing to the delay, by the contractor in constructing and erecting the new tedder and buckets, the dredge has only started work, but she is now* up on the claim, and we hope to have good and steady returns from her in the near future." The balance sheet showed. that the -unpaid calls amounted to £143 15s, but the bulk of this, "the secretary mentioned later oh in the evening, "tad been paid up. •The Chairman referred to the time that had "been lost in getting the Record Reign dredge erected, and, in doing so, explained the reasons for the delay. The directors would have liked ■to have put a more satisfactory statement betfore shareholders, hut were imable to do so. s After the dredge commenced work the prospects were not so good as the directors thought they would have been. The dredge was then putting through lots of loose wash, the top of ■which consisted of drift, with Very small returns that were certainly not payable. The little~gold they did get was very fine, and was met with within the lower Boundary of the upper claim. After dredging for a little wiile -ithe prospects slightly improved, and" they were -in-great hopes that by now they would have been able to say that the- claim was. a payable one. ' A week ago, before the recent heavy rain, the dredge commenced workings, on giotind that might have proved so, though it could not absolutely now b~e said that it would have been "the case. . The dredge, he thought, worked two * shifts on that particular ground when the flood came, and the men had 'to haul the dredge ' out." The dredgemaster stated that it could have floated but for the logs coming down, and some of these were 50ft long amd 2ft 6in in girth. The men managed to pull the dredge out of ita dangerous position at the risk, he believed, of their lives, and had then to abandon her, leaving her in the meantime in a safe place. The flood subsided as quickly as it commenced, and left the dredge high and dry, and the lower part of her was now lying in 6in of water. Naturally there had been a certain amount of damage done. He was sorry he had to make "this r ( eport, but that was how the matter stood. The unfortunate part of it was that the dredgemaster thought the ground was going to hecome payable. He washed "up the results of ■the two shifts worked, for a small return, •which would have proved payable had the dredge been able to continue on that ground. Ec (the chairman) moved the adoption of the xeport and balance sheet. Mr W. Wood seconded the motion, which •was carried. In reply to questions, the Chairman said the dredge now lay at an angle of about 30deg. They did not know the dredge was in this condition till last Tuesday, though the flood happened on the Saturday night. The dredgemaster could not communicate with the direc- • -tors sooner. As soon as the directors got the information they tried to get some of their number to go up, and communicated with Mr . Johnston, who had been on the dredge once ■or twice since the affair happened. The direc"•tors also went to see the but he was xinfortunately out of town. He was down 'south, and they communicated with him, and ; got him to go up to the claim on his way back. '-He went and had a look at the dredge, but was only there for a very short time, aiid was not ;ina position to give a full report of what would have to be done. The dredge was 6in down "at one part and 6ft at the other. The chief 'damage done was to the pontoons. There was not much damage done to the machinery, but, of course, the engineer could not make an feaiiraats of what rfc would cost to put the

dredge in working order again, but it would be something considerable. The engine and boiler were intact. Mr Wood mentioned that Ec had been at the claim just before the 'flood, and the dredge was then working very well. He had not seen anything like the flood in the Waipori district for the last 20 years, and it was a fortunate thing it did not happen during the night. The wash he saw was very good stuff, but there was not much gold in it. It was hungry looking wash. Ho believed the dredgemaster took a cut across the river, and was about the middle of it when the misfortune happened. Mr Wright thought the machinery must be twisted. The Chairman : Well, the engineer cannot say that to be the case. Mr Johnston described the position of the dredge, which he said was on a bank shelving into the river at an angle of aboiit 30deg. The slope on which she lay was shelving towards the water, and the timbers holding the two pontoons together had started. . He thought that when the bank was taken away the dredge would come into position again, but it would take some money to get her right' again. Mr Murray, the dredgemaster, said the depth of the wash he was working on at the time the flood took place was about 20ft, and they had bottomed. There was no escape from the flood where they were. They were just in time to get the ladder up. In reply to Mr Wright, the Chairman said the dredge had been working on the claim for about a fqrtnight when the mishap occurred. He moved that the directors consider the advisability of relaunching the dredge, and, if successful, that a meeting of shareholders be called soon after she commenced working to report result. The motion was seconded by Mr Wood, and ■ carried, after some brief discussion, without dissent. Messrs S. S. Myers and H. L. Johnston were re-elected directors, and Mr H. F. Mercer auditor. The next annual meeting was fixed for the 23rd November, 1901.