ROYAL MAORI GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 25

ROYAL MAORI GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in the Royal ilaori Gold Dredging Company v. as held on Monday for the purpose of considering the question of reconstruction. Mr W. T. Talboys (chairman of directors) presided, and there were nine other shareholders present. The Chainnari said the Royal Muon Coronary was one oi tlio«e, of which, unfortunately, they had had too many instances of late. The dredee had cost considerably more than ths company h.id to expend, and when she staited they were something like £2000 in debt. Fortunately gold wa3 obtained shortly after commuicmg work, and the directors had hopes of pulling thiough— .n fact, they had pulled through sufficiently to reduce the mortgage from £1200 to about £150. The good returns did not, however, last lo'ig, ai.d ths directors had of late had one conlmuoin struggle to nuke both ci.dd inert. Although their liabilities amounted to only some £1015 thsy cculd r.ot carry on any longer, because in the 'face of the prices now being leahsed icr dredges the mortgagee was anxious with regard to his money. He could assure th<?m that a director's position was no sinecure nowadays if a company was in difficulties. It had been suggested that the company should be reconstructed, but owing to the method of certain xec°nt constructions having been severely criticised, and, lie thought, with good reason, he was not prepared to suggest that the reconstruction be carried out on the lir.es proposed in the circular that had been issued to shareholder, for the reason that ii there was anything left over after the realisation of xhe assets it should go to the shareholders, some of whom would bo unib|i> to go into the company. He would there-fore suggest that a resolution be passed to the effect that the company, by reason of its liabilities, could not carry on, in -which case thr dredge wou'd be sold in the ordinary way, s>o that it could not be said that anyone encouraged reconstruction fcr the purpose of making money out of it at the expends of those who were unabie to take up sharfi in the new company. He thought the dredge should be submitted to public competition, and then bhareholdeis would leap tLe benefit of any dividend forthcoming. He thought, however, that it would be almost unpcssible to cover their liabilities by the sale of the dredge. The chairman then suggested that instead of passing the ie»o'lut:oa set out in the circular they should pass one such as the- tollowmg --"That it lias been proved to the satisfaction of this meeting that the company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, contiMie its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same, anil accoidingly that the compans be wcurd up voluntarily, and that Sirirpy -Thorpe Mirams, of Duitcdui, he, and hereby is, appointed liquidator for the purpcae "of puch winding up." His reason for doing this was that suggestions were thrown out that things were not straight where poor* r shareholders wera forced out by those who were able to provide money for reconstruction. The liabilities of the company were as follow —Current accounts, .£258 8s 4d , wages up to July 19, JEISO l^s G<J , balance of engineer's commiss'on, £139 4s 9d , mortgage, £462 ss ; makirg a total of £1040 16s 7d, against which they had the dredge and claim and a cash balance of £19 ,7s 7d in the bank. The first two items were pres-mg, and the wige o " men had threatened to take out a hen if they were not paid The chairman concluded by moving the rebOluticn. Mr Jonathan Rhodes, in seconding the motior. said he thought it would be better if tne mortgagee were to sell the dredge, as time would then be saved. The wages' men would not wait very long for their money. The mortgagee, along with the directors, could sell the diedge, and save a little money. At the next meeting things could be put into working shape, srid the directors could safeguard the interests of shareholders in the meantime. In reply to a question, the Secretary stated that applications had bean received for 907 shares in the new company, and promises to take up a great many more shares had been made.

In reply to further questions, the Chairman stated that the dredge had gone over a considerable portion, of the claim. Thar* na •

piece of ground on the bank alongside where she started and go' good teturns, but with the exception of that and the ground where the diedge was at present the claim had been prospected and found to be unpayable. His idea was that if the company wps reconstructed it should be for the purpose of trying other ground, of which there was a great extent. The piece alongside where the good returns were got could only bs worked in the summer vhen the river was high. Plenty of ground c-.uld be got on the Clutha, and ground that possibly had been thought to be of little or no value had been proved by the Rise and Shine c'redge. The directors had 'aid before shareholders a suggestion that they should take up another claim abcut two miles further up, and although he (the chairman) was a shareholder in this claim himself he would" be quite prepared to put his money into it, and those interested in the claim would be prepared to tak° cut the price in shares. It was quite open to anyone present to move an amendment in the ch'iection of liquidating on the lines laid down in the circular A Shareholder remarked thai he did not think th^re was anything in the R-oyal Maori claim worth working. In reply to additional questions the Chairman said the dredge was quite capable of working the claim. It would cot cost much to shift the dredge on to the Wanaka claim. With a high river she could go ther; in a week. The Wanaka claim compused about 50 or 60 acies. A current-wheel dredge had worked it some time ago, and got better returns there than in any other part of the river. Mr' Duncan said he thought it was a hopeless case, and that it would be better to sell the dredge and let shareholders get what they could out of it. Mr Rhodes pointed out that, there were other claims m the vicinity that cou'd be tried. They liad about 18 oi 20 miles of the river in front of them. Tho chairman's motion was then put and ctnied. On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr Rhodes, it was decided to hold a confirmatoiy meetirg on August 11. The reruuneiation of the liquidator was fixed at 15gs.