THE ZEALANDIA SYNDICATE (LIMITED).

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 22

THE ZEALANDIA SYNDICATE (LIMITED).

The following is a copy of the report to be presented to shareholders at the annual general meeting: — In presenting to the Zealandia byndicate shareholders this, the first annual report, your directors have every reason to congratulate you on the success attained during .the year. A. vast amount of work has been got through both, at the syndicate's registered office -and- on the . West Coast, and in presenting a brief resume of the work done your directors do so under the • following heads : — . ' ■ ■' Options Secured.— Since the formation of the syndicate 100 options have been taken up. Of _ these 15 have been secured, the balance either » havin°- been rejected or else not yet having been, . thoroughly tested. The report from Mr N. K. Sligo, printed herewith, gives fuller details of - the work accomplished on the West Coast, from which it will be seen that the employees time has been fully occupied during the year. Companies Floated.— At the date of the in* corporation of the Zealandia Syndicate the following properties were taken over from the original syndicate : —Orwell Creek, ErickEon's Eeward, Pactolus (Clutha River), Hill's Creek, and Watterson's Consols. Of these Hill's Creek, proved on testing to be unpayable for dredging,, and had consequently to be abandoned. The _ Pactolus claim was tested with satisfactory results, and was placed on the market under .the title of Clutha Queen Gold Dredging Company, the name Pactolus having been previously registered by another i ompany. Unfortunately; the shares were not taken up in sufficient numbers to warrant your directors proceeding toallotment, and the flotation was withdrawn, pending a more favoumble opportunity of again, bringing it before the public. This property may be counted as a valuable asset, and the titl» is made secure. Regarding the other claima taken over, Orwell Creek and Erickson's Reward had been previously floated, and Watterson's Consols was floated after registration of the Zealandia' Syndicate. It is anticipated that the Erickson's Reward Company will be at - w.ork before the end of January next, and your t directors have every confidence that the results : obtained from this, the first working company} floated by the syndicate, will be such as -wilt • give a big lift in the direction of floating, other claims ready for putting on the market. The following companies have also been floated since the registration of the syndicate — viz. : Trafal- - gar, Caledonia, Westland, Victory, Moonlight, and Aldinga. - > Claims Ready for Flotation. — The syndicate* have at present iive properties on the West Coast ready for putting on the market, all of , which have been thoroughly prospected ancfc favourably reported on, and applications hava been made for converting them into speciaE claims, the necessary deposits having been paid' from the funds of the syndicate. Two other* claims over which the syndicate hold the option; have been prospected and favourably reported! on, the application for converting these into special claims having been made by the holders of the prospecting licenses. There are also two other thoroughly prospected properties over, which the syndicate hold options, but which; _ have not yet been applied for as special clairiis. These make in all nine properties that the" syndicate have ready for the market as soon as flotation prospects are bright enough. Home and Foreign Markets. — With a view' of testing the Home and foreign markets, your ' directoxs have placed a number of properties.; under offer on the English and American -markets, and di -the negotiations, already" begun. ' result in business, a handsome cash dividendl will be available to shareholders. Your directors have also brought under the notice of theleading Australian capitalists the sound investments offered in the properties held by the syndicate, and are in a position to take full" advantage of any demand that may arise for investment in sound dredging stocks in any of these markets

Dredging Machinery. — Secognising the great' delay in the construction of dredging machinery - that was -taking place locally and throughout \ New Zealand, your directors deemed it advis-, able to call together "the directors of the com-; panics they had floated, that had not entered' into any contracts locally, with a view to test--ing the American or British markets, therebjg hoping to save both time and money. As a^ result of two or three meetings, Mr F. W. Payne was appointed engineer to the syndicate, and in August last Mi Raymond Payne proceeded to America to arrange terms, etc. *So far tll»

Jesuit of his mission has been the receipt of prices and terms, but the companies interested | (with the exception of the Caledonia Gold j ■Dredging Company, which -obtained suitable onachinery already manufactured in the colonies) have not yet come to a decision, and negotiations are still being carried on through (the syndicate. Working Staff.— With respect to the working staff engaged by the syndicate, your directors ;were exceedingly fortunate in securing a trio ©f experts who have served the company faithfully and well. A glance at the table of options '(now in the secretary's office) sent in by Mr N. 2K. Sligo will at once show shareholders what an immense amount of work has been accomplished during the past 12 months. Mr N. K. Sligo, who is still retained as the syndicate's chief agent and general supervisor, with headquarters at Ahaura, has had a very arduous task to perform in negotiating purchases of options and thorough inspection of same. His •work has been carried out to the -complete satisfaction of the board of directors, and his report,'giving an account of the year's operations, ■will be read with interest by the shareholders. Mr John Don has also been of Very acceptable service, his duties having been carried out with Ms usvial characteristic (faithfulness. Owing to the syndicate having sufficient claims prospected and the market not being favourable for further flotations, Mr Don, at the suggestion of your directors, very generously offered to release them from their engagement with him two months "before its expiration. The thanks of- the shareholders are therefore due to Mr Don for so acting. Mr Alexander Sligo Tyas engaged early in the year as a boring expert, and has been most assiduous and successful in ihis labours, "boring difficult ground at small expense 'and without loss of 3>lant. He is stilJ, under engagement to the syndicate. Directors' Meetings.— During the year your directors have held 26 meetings, -besides numerous conferences with the directors o.f companies promoted by the syndicate. Some of these have been extremely lengthy sittings, and a large amount of business has been disposed of in a •way that they trust will be considered satisf acSyndicate's Pamphlet.— Your directors compiled a small booklet giving s> resume of the syndicate's methods of prospecting and a short history of each claim. Copies of these have "been distributed among the shareholders, and a considerable number have also been distributed'throughout New Zealand. Returns to Shareholders.— The following table ' shows what the syndicate has received in cash and shares from the two companies which were floated by the original syndicate, and also from the seven companies floated since registration. A second table shows what has been returned to every investor of £100 iii the syndicate, and. also what has yet to be returned from companies ■which have not yet allotted the paid-up shares. A balance of 156 shares received from companies floated has not Been distributed to the shareholders owing to the shares not being divisible except in fractional parts. These are held in the syndicate secretary's name in trust for shareholders, and may be disposed of by your directors at any time, as provided by the articles of association,, the proceeds to be then distributed among those" entitled to same. __

TABLE I.— Shares and Cash Received from all Companies Floated.

Table H. — Shares and Cash Returned to Each Investor of £100 in the Syndicate, and Shares ■which have yet to be Returned to the Investor. #

Retiring Directors and Auditor. — According to. the articles of association, two of the directors retire at the annual meeting. They are Messrs G. W. Kerr and J . H. Carter. The auditor (Mr A. T. Pinch) also retires. All are eligible, and offer themselves for re-election. Mb Sugo's EEroBT Of Work done on the West Coast for Year ending 31st October, 1900. (N.B. — Mr Sligo has supplied a list of the majority of the properties he has prospected and inapected, but the directors did not deem it wise to publish same. The shareholders can see the list at the secretary's office.) " Since; the inauguration of above company, and during the 12 months ending 31st October, I have inspected a large number of dredging areas on the West Coast. A large proportion of those areas I condemned, aa either being unsuitable for dredging or else not showing sufficient surface inducement to warrant the expenditure of large sums in prospecting. Options were taken over those which I considered •warranted prospecting, and were in due course j prospected ; those not proving thoroughly pay- I able were weeded out, while those favourably reported on were submitted to a very severe prospecting test, and will, I am sure, be remunerative and dividend-paying. The high opiniojl entertained by miners and local residents, coupled with the good results got on surface wherever tried, induced me to do a considerable amount of prospecting on I/ittle j Grey River, but almost all holes bored resulted in faihire, or else gave prospects below the standard I had set up as dividend-paying. We have also given a good deal of attention to Grey River, and have been successful in locating by boring some first-class properties, among •which may be classed Westland (adjoining the. Grey Consolidated Company's area, prospected prior), Brown-Grey, Donald's Beulah, Baird's Tarn, o' Shanter, Pacific, Magill's United Leads, Doolan's Reward, Antrim, Ulster, and Caledonia, the latter claim being exceptionally well fed by proved rich creeks. Cormectively, this group of claims is accounted, and will, when dredging commences, be iound among the fore- ' most of the dividend-paying claims on Eiver ' Grey. Ahaura Eiver projDerties comprise Wat- I terson's Consols, Ahaiira (prospected prioi to registration of company), and Murphy's , Ahaura. The large amount of work done on banks of these claims, combined with the numerous rich feeders, gives to the practical i miner a fair idea of results that may be exited when - dredging 'commences. I expect •

to see rich results obtained from those three claims.

" Moonlight Company's claim was prospected by shaft and paddock sinking for splendid results, and is accounted very rich by local mineTs and persons acquainted with the locality.

" Nelson Creek claims — viz., Trafalgar, Victory, and Aldinga — have been thoroughly tested by boring, shaft sinking, and paddocking for highly satisfactory results. A considerable amount of work was done on these claims, and in every case, when shaft sinking, boring, and paddocking, good prospects were obtained, stamping these areas as first-class dredging properties.

" It would entail a considerable amount of work to enumerate in detail the various claims which have been inspected and not deemed of sufficient value to further prospect.

" Considerably over 100 claims have been prospected and inspected by us, 16 of which proved perfectly favourable after thorough testingj 13 were thorougly prospected, and proved unsatisfactory, and were consequently abandoned; but a large number,- as> will ,be seen, were refused without going to the expense of boring and prospecting, as the inspection of them did not warrant anything further being done with them. . " Boring operations were commenced on December 11, 1899, under Mr Don's supervision, and since February 19, 1900, have been m continuous operation under Mr A. Sligo's supervision. We have been exceedingly fortunate in losing very few pipes, and at present the plant, a very complete one in all particulars, is m first-class order."

Name. Shares. Orwell Creek Company .. 31 , Eiickson's Reward Com- ' pany -. . 15 IWatter son's Consols Company' 15 Aldinga Company .. .. 19 Caledonia Company^ .. •. 12 Cash £4 l. Total returned to date 92 Shares. Westland Company 14 Victory Company . . 15 Moonlight, Company 15 Trafalgar Company 12 M To "be returned ..56 56 G-rand total earned for each £100 .._ 148 £4

■ Name." S 1 Orwell Creek Company (floated by original syndicate) •.. .'.* .. "Erickson's Reward Company (floated by original .syndicate) ' „ "Watter son's Consols Company: ! .Trafalgar Company .. , 'Caledonia Company „ Westland Company .. Moonlight Company .. Victory Company . . . . Aldinga Company Shares-* 1500 1000 1000 775 800 900 1000 1000 1250 Casn. £300 300 125 200 250 250 250 250 i. I I i i i i £1925