THE MEG AND ANNIE DIRECTORS AND THEIR CREW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2481, 2 October 1901, Page 25

THE MEG AND ANNIE DIRECTORS AND THEIR CREW.

THEIR CREW. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— All sorts of vague and ridiculous lutnours are flying about as to the cause of the summary dismissal by the directors of the Meg and Annie Company of five of their dredging crew last month. In the meantime these men are placed in a position which militates against their being employed on any other dredge. But there is one feature in the casa that the general public are unaware of — viz., that there was a mile of ground vacant between the Meg and Annie a,nd Grand Junction claims, with about six chains of rapids in the centre of it. The lower end, abutting on the Meg and! Annie's top boundary, consists of 600 yds of splendid dredging ground, and the company's dredge when working up to it was getting veryrich gold. Naturally, some of the crew took up this vacant claim, now known as ihe Annia Queen, and which I believe has been floated, and will probably be worked by the Upper Magnetic dredge on tribute. I don't suppose thd action of these men was looked upon with equanimity by the directors and secretary of the Meg and Annie, as they no doubt though* that this 600 yds of river would ultimately "re absorbed and dredged by them. Until the directors of this, company let the public at large know the reason of such a- drastic meafcine as sacking five men at a moment's notice, and whether there is any truth in the rumour that the tables were being tampered with, I for one will believe that the pegging off of the spare ground is at the bottom of it. Three out of the five men discharged belong to this district : two of them were bred and born m it, and the third man has been settled in it for a number of years, and has reared a young family, and was well known and highly respected for his honesty and integrity. Sir, I think that the course I suggest to Vie directors would either confirm or remove tha ban placed on these men, and would be mori in accordance with the spirit of British. Fair Flay.

Cromwell, September 24.