INCH VALLEY GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

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

INCH VALLEY GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

The second annual meeting of the Inch Valley Gold Dredging Company was held at the Queen's Rooms, Crawford street, last Monday and was attended by 12 shareholders. Mi J. C. Short, chairman of directors, presided. The following was the annual report presented : — " In presenting accounts for the year ending 31st October, 1900, the directors beg to report having had a fairly satisfactory year, but the average weekly return of 15oz would have been considerably -.increased had full working time been obtained throughout the period. An additional appliance is now being added to the dredge to deal with the silt, and it is hoped that the trouble hitherto arising from this source will by this means be overcome." The "Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, said he must refer to the work done by the dredge in the past. They had had a somewhat successful year, but not as successful as might have been wished. At the same time it was anticipated by directors and shareholders that the dredge's first year's work would probably vary as far as returns were concerned, inasmuch as the ground to be worked was ground that had been partly worked before. The ground had been held by miners in days gone by, and thu dredge in working her way up had to encounter \this ground. Another thing was that the giound contained a certain amount of fine stuff (silt), which impeded the work. Mr Roberts was interviewed, and asked to devise some scheme by which the difficulty might be overcome. He thought the matter out, and designed a model of a tailings elevator, and li seemed to the directors that it would answer the purpose admirably. The piece of machinery was ordered, but was not obtained as soon as was anticipated. The job was at last finished, and was this last month puti n position. About a week ago the dredge was ready to start, but the dredgemaster, being new to the thing, did not readily fall in with the idea, and came to town an.d. reported to tljg.

engineer, Mr Roberts, on the matter. That i gentleman made it his business to go out to ! the claim that morning, and both he and the I late dredgemaster, Mr Bennett, were expected • back again that evening to tell the meeting j how they got on. No doubt Mr ±ioberts would ' be able to put matters right, but like all new ! things this required a little time to perfect, j There was no doubt that there were very fair < prospects ahead. From the balance sheet they j would notice that dividends to the extent of os per share had been paid, or 25 per cent, on the ' capital. The dredgemaster they now had was \ very pleased with the claim. j The Secretary (Mr Brown) explained that j though they had paid 5s per share they were, • owing to the dredge having had broken time, i back to the extent'of £151 13s lOd, as was shown I m the piofit and loss account. They should I really have only paid 4s odd instead of 5s to : be on the safe side. Owing to the somewhat ! heavy ground at the upper cut the dredge had ! cost a considerable sum for maintenance, which I it was hoped would not happen again. I Mr W. H. Pearson illustrated the workings on the claim by means of a diagram. Mr R. Glendining thought the chairman I should tell them something about the mis- ' management. Mr Pearson said it was a first class claim, but there weie always some mistakes made at the start. They came upon some ground that had been worked before, and if it had* been driven through at first it might have been better. Probably half of it had been previously worked, but he anticipated that the next cut would prove the claim to be rich, though not to the same extent as a Hartley and Ri'W Mr "Wetherilt said that although they had had 5s m dividends they might have had more lhey knew there had been mismanagement. He thought the directors should take a little more control over the dredge, or dredgemaster, as to the working of the claim. The dred<remaster was working away from where he knew very much -"better gold was to be got, and was not working the claim as was intended to. He (Mr Wetheilt) believed that this was so, but did not know that he was perfectly correct. The Chairman said he could only say that the whole trouble was that the dividends had notbeen forthcoming as regularly as they might have been. Directly the directors realised that the dredgemaster was not doing as they wished, they took steps to remedy the matter, and they now had a first-class man. The man they had had was a- most conscientious workman, as far as working a dredge was concerned. Mr Bennett, who it seemed was the original dredgemaster, and had been lately filling tb« position pending a fresh appointment, explained the action of the apparatus for dealing with the silt that had been causing so much trouble. Mr Glendining (a director) thought they, as directors, were to blame. The dredge had been at a standstill for nine weeks, and they had been waiting for this wheel to take away the silt. They might have dammed the river right over, worked the dredge, and been geting gold, but they had been waiting until they had dammed the whole thing. As a directoi of this company he was very dissatisfied. They had been drifting on, and drifting on, and they had got this wheel, hut they would have to dam the river before they got the gold. The Chairman could not agree with Mr Glendining' s remarks. Damming this river would not have done away with the silt. Mr Glendining: I am 'not a dredgemaster, hut I know what I am talking about, all the same. Mr Grigg pointed out that damming cost money, and while dam-making was in progress wages were going on* all the time. It was better for them to shut down and not incur expense till they could start again. To make dams was a pretty costly job. " ' • Mr Glendining: It is less expensive to make dams than to get spur wheels cast.' Mr Nees: Yes, and it is easier for the river to carry away the dams than to carry away the spur wheels. The Chairman pointed out that to dam the river would not do away with the silt. Mr Wetherilt said the more water there was under the dredge the less likelihood there was of being troubled with silt. The Chairman: Yes; hut we cannot get the water deep enough without building a very high dam. Mr Glendining admitted, in replying to a remark of 'the chairman's, that he had not visited the claim. He would, however, make it his business to do so. He did not wish to blame Mr Short, who had been invaluable to the company, but he blamed himself. Mr Nees then seconded the motion for the adoption ot the report and balance sheet, which was carried unanimously. Messrs J. C. Short and G. M. Grigg were reelected directors. Mr John Davie was reelected auditor, and the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman, moved by Mr Wetherilt ; that gentleman urging that a. plan of the claim should he prepared, so that it might he clearly understood where the dredge was working. The Chairman explained that this had been done, but it was after^the dredge had been shut down. n ,