DAY DAWN GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 17 April 1901, Page 21

DAY DAWN GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

An extraordinary adjourned meeting of shareholders in the Day Dawn Gold Dredging Company was held at the Otago Stock Exchange on Thursday, the chairman of directors (Mr A. iWiffen) presiding. The Chairman stated that the sub-committee *>f shareholders appointed had met the directors, and had laid before them the position it ■was intended to take up in relation to the Nugget claim and dredge. The directors had agreed to the proposals made. A lesolution lo that effect had been unanimously carried, and in consequence the resolution proposed to be moved would lapse. It would appear that there was a proposal to increase the capital of the Day Dawn Company to £7850, by the creation of 850 shares of £1 each ; that this proposal was submitted to a meeting held on the 28th March last, and that the sub-committee referred to by Mr Wiffen ■was appointed to confer with the directors. The resolution referred to by the chairman as having lapsed in consequence of the conference between the sub-committee and the directors was to the effect that the present negotiations between the Day Dawn Company and the Nugget Company be declared ended. The Chairman of the meeting said the directors were very pleased at receiving the assistance and advice the shareholders had tendered. JEe referred with regret to the letters appearing in the newspapers, but expressed the opinion that it was no use taking any notice of these. It was very rash for people to rush into print and decry the company when they could «asily have got any information they wanted from himself or the secretary. Finally, he j mentioned that there never had been any offer i made to the Nugget Company. | The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman. THE PRIDE OF WAIMTJMU CLAIM. A sitting of the Warden's Court was held on Friday before Mr Warden Carew. The only case heard was thai of George Barrett Horder, of Dunedm, against James Anderson and Samuel Edward Denmston, of Invercargill. | This was an application to take the evidence of I JBdward Trythall (sharebroker), Donald Reid (solicitor), and Win. E. C. Reid (sharebroker). j /The case will be heard in Invercargill. The claim set forth that the plaintiff had made an agreement with the defendants on the 10th day of October last for the sale to him of one-third share in the mining claim known as the Pride of Waimumu, the consideration being £30, and the plaintiff claimed that he had paid that amount to the defendants. Plaintiff further alleged that he had made fre- . quent application to defendants for the execxi- j tion of a transfer to him of the said third J share, bwt they had refused to make such transfer. They had now sold the claim for Also in cash and £200 in shares. Plaintiff therefore claimed payment of £50 and 67 shares as onethird share of the proceeds of the sale, £10 by way of damages for breach of contract, the j costs of the action, and such other costs as the court thought fit. | Mr Stephens, for the defendants, said that , an adjournment was desired until Monday j next, which was accordingly granted. KIA-ORA GOLD DREDGING COMPANY (LIMITED). An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Kia-Ora Gold Dredging Company was held at the register ed office of the company on Friday. Mr Peter Miller (enair- I man of directors) was m the chair, and 15 other shareholders were present. The resolutions submitted to increase the capital of the company by the creation of 2000 new shares of £1, to be called preference shares, to which shall be attached special rights and privileges, were carried, but the directors were empowered, before issuing thes shares, to endoavour to raise sufficient capital amongst shareholders on the security of the dredge to meet the requirements of the company, and, in the event of being able to do so, the resolutions not to be acted upon. All present in the room signed an agreement to advance so znuch each, J with the result that £950 was promised at 8 per cent, per annum, payable in four monthly instalments. Several of the shareholders undertook to call upon the other shareholders to see if the amount required can be raised. The directors will not issue the pieference shares I if shareholders guarantee up to £1400. OPENING OF THE BELMONT DREDGE. Upwards of 100 persons assembled at the , Balmont Gold Dredging Company's claim on j the Waiau River on Saturday, whan the official I opening of the company's dredge took pla-ce. j Messrs A. Sinclair, John Murray, G. Gilchnst j (directors), and Mr C. W. Brown (secretary) j •were amongst those present At 12.30 the j chairman of directors (Mr Sinclair) made i j "brief speech, congratulating the local resi- j dents on the completion of the dredge, which he said might prove an important factor m the future advancement of the district, and , then called on Mrs H. M'Lees to turn on the j steam. This was done, and the buckets commenced revolving and bringing up heavy loads ' of wash. An adjournment was then made to '• the shore, where a toast list was proceeded | •with. In proposing success to the contractors, i • Mr Sinclair stated that the directors were well satisfied with the way in which the dredge had been designed by Messrs Mouat and Wales, and the contract for alterations carried out by Messrs Mouat and party. On behalf of the directors, Mr C. W. Brown (secretary) outlined the history of the company, showing the diffi- ] culties with which they had to contend. The | company was first registered with a capital of £5000, on June 8, 1898. After contending with innumerable difficulties, the opening ceremony m connection with working the suction plant took place on August 7, 1899. It soon became apparent that the suction principle was an •utter failure in regard to a river claim, and the dredge was closed down with a debt of £1500. In November, 1809, the dredge was let on tribute to a syndicate, and was then placed in the river, and the prospects obtained warranted the directors in calling the shareholders together to ask for an mciease of capital to JEBSOO, to provide funds to put on a bucket ■dredge. The meeting was held in March, 1900, and the necessary sanction given, but it was not till the annual meeting in August that any very active steps were taken to carry out the wishes of the shareholders. At that meeting a new Board of Directors was appointed, and as it was apparant that the funds available ■would not be sufficient, it was resolved to ■ further increase the capital by £1500, making the total £10,000. A special meting of share- ' holders wa.s held on August 30, 1900, to sanction this increase. A contract was then let for cutting ternber, and Messrs Mouat and Wales were appointed engineers. After the New Year a large party of men weie sent up -to dismantle the dredge, and work had been going on continuously since. Considering the work that had to be done, he thought they would agree with him that Messrs Mouat and , party were entitled to the thanks of the whole of the shareholders for the way m which the | • work had been carried out. i Mr Afouafc, in responding, stated that the alterations had been carried out under great difficulties, but the Belmont Company had now an effective machine. He said the machinery was of the most modem design, and the ladder was 54ft long, which would allow of dredging to a depth of 30ft, while an extension with which it was fitted would permit c itsaUiexuiifi of 4ft 6m jf aooegawy. The

: buckets were each 4J cubic feet capacity, and revolved at the rate of 12 per minute. This would enable the dredge to treat 110 tons per hour. The screen was 18ft long by 4ft 6in in diameter, and iriction driven. The winches were very powerful. The gold-savmg tables would give a spread of 335 square feet, and provision is made'for a larger spread if necessary. I Another visit was afterwards paid to the • dredge. Owing to the non-arrival of Eome wirewove netting the saving tables were not fully equipped, but sufficient gold was seen to enable the visitors to form a favourable opinion of the capacity of the dTedge m saving gold when fully at work. The dredge will be finally taken over from the contractors this week, and on Monday next will be worked with three shifts. THE PRIDE OF MARLBOROUGH GOLD DREDGING COMPANY (LIMITED). The statutory general meeting of the above company was held in Sophia street Hall, Timaru on Friday, about 40 shareholders being present. The Chairman (Mr S. M'Bride) stated that the business was to elect a permanent board of directors, and appoint an auditor to the company. Mr James Kitto, the company s expert, who was expected to be present, was unable to return from Top Valley, Marlborougb, I in time for the meeting owing to having to attend the Warden's Court for a further protection for the claim for a period of six months, which was granted, the certificate of which was produced by the company's solicitor (Mr Raymond). There were" nine nominations for the directorate, and, after the usual ballot, the following were duly elected • —Messrs S. M'Bride, Andrew Gibson, ! James Kitto, John M'Rae, and Samuel Anderson. The remuneration was fixed at £60 per atnmum. devisable as the directors agree. Mr Frank Raymond was elected auditor to the company. RUBY GOLD DREDGING COMPANY. " The adjourned annual meeting of the Ruby Gold Dredging Company was held at Lawrence on Wednesday evening (says the Tuapeka Tiniest when eight shareholders, representing I 2985 shares, were present. Mr F. Oudaille [ (chairman of directors) presided. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of th-> report, said that satisfactory progress was being made with the erection of the dredpre. The machinery was just about ready for shipment from Melbourne, and the contractor was busy with the erection of the pontoons. All that was required m order to facilitate the work was for the shareholders to assist the directors by paying fheir calls promptly. If th«y did not do this they could not complain if the erection of the dredge did not proceed so rapidly as they would like. In reply to a question, the Chairman said he expected the dredge would start work with only a very small debt. Owing to the altered conditions they expected that the total cost would be somewhat below the original estimate. j Messrs T. S. Lee and G. Leslie were reI appointed directors and Mr H. H. Leary auditor. | It was resolved that the directors' remuneration for the ensuing 12 months be £60. and it I was made a recommendation to the directors that the secretary's sa'ary be increased to £65. THE NGAHERE GOLD DREDGING COMPANY. An extraordinary general meeting; of the shareholders of the Ngahere Gold Dredging Company, convened by the directors for the I purpose of considering a resolution for the voluntary winding up of the company, was held in the office of Messrs Cook and Gray, High street, on Monday afternoon. Mr W G Somerville presided, and a quoium of shareholders was present. The Chairman, in submitting the resolution to the meeting, said that Mr Cook and Mr Scott (the local director) had arranged with Mr Chester to bore the claim. The directors had received the report, the conclusion of which was as follows — " I do not feel justified in recommending any further prospecting of your claim, as your claim forms a portion of a large i area of barren giound m the vicinity." lie also said he would not put down any more boring unless specially instructed to do so. The local director, who was also the ■* evdor, rcnorted upon the claim, but he did not think it necessary to read his report. As there were 425 shares still unallotted, it was thought advisable to call the shareholdeis together and move a resolution to go into vo'untary liquidation, and he moved accordingly. | Mr Herbert Easton seconded the resoHition, ' with an amendment regarding the method of j carrying out the liquidation, which the chairj man ruled to be out of order. In support of i his amendment he said that he was represent- ! ing the feelings of many of the shareholders | in companies which had been promoted, floated, '< and managed in Messrs Cook and Gray's office in saying that the time has arrived for sounding a very strong protest against the j high-handed action recently taken up by an employee of Messrs Cook and Gray's in using Mr W. R Cook's vendois' shares against those of the contributing shaieholders in preventing the winding up of a company, against the wish of the contributing shareholders. He 4ook that opportunity, on behalf of all who had a real interest in the future welfare of god dredging | as an industry, of expressing a wish that the I members of the Stock Exchanges in Dunedm and in other cities of the colony would, if only for the benefit of their clients, see their way to take such steps as would in future make it lrnrjossible for a company to be kept alive when the majority of the contributing shareholders were desirous of liquidating At the present time there were to his knowledge no less than six companies promoted and man1 aged from Messrs Cook and Gray's ofiicc which wore contemplating liquidation. Now, to keep these liabilities hanging over the heads of shareholders for an indefinite period was to lock up a large sum of money, a great portion of which would probably be used to assist other companies were it available. He did not possess any vendors' shares, but m the six j companies alluded to he (Mr Easton) held 1000 contributing shares in four and 100 m another. He stated this so that it might be clear that i he would not advocate a speedy burial of these j companies did he see any chance of avoiding I a considerable loss to himself. The sooner companies that had been condemned were buried and removed from the lists of the exchanges the better it would be for those companies that had a chance of being worked for dividends. Mi Howes said that Mr Easton was stretching the long bow when he talked about hquidaI tion of any company being prevented by his , (Mr Howes"') use of vendors' shares. In the case referred to the votes for liquidation represented 300 out of 3950, of which something less than 1000 were vendors' shares. How, under these circumstances, it could be said that the use of vendors' shares had prevented liquidation was to him utterly inexplicable. Then as to the testing of the present claim, Mr Chester had put down one bore, and that was to stand against the other tests of the claim I which had yielded satisfactory lesults. He was himself well acquainted with the methods ! of boring, and believed that if they were to pour a teacupful of gold down the pipe the pump would fail to bring any of it up. The pump never readied within ljui of the bottom, and consequently could not bring up from the bottom the gold which must have been washed down during the process. He condemned the system because the last l^in of the bottom ■was never lifted by the sand pump. For his part he had s« objection fc> winding the coitt-

pany up on the ground that the capital vas insufficient, but he thought that in the interests of all they should wait for developments, which they could do without aclditional expense, and that then they should get additional capital or arrange for the ground to be worked by a dredge that might be available, or wind up the company as might then appear best. He thought the directors might be able to make arrangements with someone who had a dredge, and that m am event it would be better to wait, as they would not involve any appreciable loss. Mr Davidson seconded the resolution for winding up. not on the ground that the claim was a duffer ' or that they had sufficient eiidcnce upon which to condemn it, but because they had not sufficient capital to work the claim. Mr Howes agam urged the adoption of the couise he had suggested, and said that the opposition to this course aroce from personal considerations which ought not to bo entcitamed. He behe\ed th^t vliat was pioposeJ amounted to an uunecessaiy sacrifice of the claim, and expiessed himself as quite confident that the test upon which it was propo-ed to condemn the claim was by no means conclusive m its character. On the mot'on being put to the ballot theie were 1300 voteb iccoided for the resolution in favour of the \oluntarily wmdrig up of the company, and 3125 against it. The motion was therefore declared lost. Mr Howes then suggested that it be a recommendation to the directors to let the matter remain in abeyance at as little expense as porsible till the time comes for the annual general meeting of the company, and then that sufficient notice be given of any resolution which it might be deemed necessary to put before the shareholders at that date. This suggestion was adopted, and the meeting closed.