NEW GREENSTONE GOLD DREDGING COMPANY

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 1 July 1903, Page 38

NEW GREENSTONE GOLD DREDGING COMPANY

An extraordinary general meeting of the New Greensto*j9 Gold Dredging Company was held as the office of the company. No. 1 Bond street, on the *23rd. Mr Ja-nies (chairman of directors) presided, and there were five other shareholders present.

The Chanman said th<» position was set out 1.1 the circular sent out. to shareholders. _ The company owed about £1250, which included mortgage and interest. The directors h«3 hoped that wheii they got the mortgage money ib would have been sufficient to thoroughly test the claim, and that nothing more would be required. Unfortunately tbj ground had proved rough, and, although llie pTOspecta had been fair, the wear aud tear had been very great. Tha bucket pins had suffered very severely, and weie always breaking away, and to overcome the difficulty better pins were got. As soon as the pina stood it wa3 found that tho buckets gave way, and they were advised that this was on account of their faulty constructioit. They were so shaped tha* they would not baar the sitrain of the rough ground. It was found that in order to gpt a new strirg of buckets it would cost over £100, and, although tho directors had really been offered about that stun on mortgage, it was felt that it would only bs courting further failure just to borrow sufficient to pay for new buckets, and not provide any workirg capital. The directors felt that if the company was to go on something like £2000 wouid be required to put the company in a really substantial position. He then proceed-ed to give a detailed account of the gold won, the total from January to April being 1390z lldwt 9gr. Of course the returns were not payable, bu l they were sufficient evidence of a fair quantity "of gold being in the claim, and he believed they were working to a point across the creek where the returns would have improved.

The Secretary (Mr Larnach) . There was a lot of broken time. The Chaiiman (continuing) said he thought shareholders would do well to give the claim a further trial. The terms cfiered were very liberal, as they had to be in such oases, and he did not think those taking up the preferenca shares wonld be likely to suffer any loss, because they wou'd ha leally in the position of mortgagees, as the board would not encumber the dredgo beyond the amount to be subscribed. Many of the largest shareholders were on the Coast, m cloae proximity to the claim, and their large holdings proved their faith in it. Sams cm the Coast were prepared to take up more preference shares than they were called upon to do on their holdings. The only thing thpv coujd then do wa3 to p-a=s the resolutions, aid if the subscriptions did not corns in tlxe ou.lv alternative was liquidation. Mr Ivemay suggested that the capital might bo written down 10s a share, and 4000 shares at 10s issued. The Chairman- It is as broad as it is long. I will move, tiho resolution. These have been already published, the substance of them being that the capital be incre.ised to £11,030 by the creation of 2000 new shares of £1 each, that 10s be paid on application and 10s on allotment, and that the holders of them be the first considered out of the profits o" n t'>e e\ent of liqu.dation Mr H. Adam seconded the motions, which vrcro carried without dissent. In reply to a. question, the Chairman said it v.ou'd cost about £130 to put the dredge m thorough order. A meeting to confirm tho Tesolukons passed will be held on the lOch July.

NEW HALFWAY HOUSE COMPANY

In coiisequonce of the handsom-o returns obta.m<Ml by tlie New Halfway Houso dredge wit/'iin the past fortnight the directors of the company have redesmed the levy recently ia>sed to enable the dredge to be shifted on to the uppei pirt of the c'aim and to get a fanstart there In addition to this thero i<s a credit ba-Uiice of about £1200 m hand, and if the rich wash continues shareholders may look 101 vt aid to recaivmg a substantial dividend Ueiore Hng-. Tlip dredge 13 understood to be on tho ru h wash sti!!, and, provided e-very-thn.g works well this week, the return should be fu iv as good its thoss won during the last tv. o weeks Tho ground on which the dredge 1^ 1 ov,' working was only recently acquired by tiie company, and it is believed that it is the 1 ro[, ity* lh.it was fortrrrlv held by Ah Kew who aol =oimo \ery handsome returns At p r< vit the machine is working to a depth of jb >ut 2. J tt or 23ft, but if tho necessity arises = 'ie r»i, diedgp to a dpplh of sbout 51ft, as the ladder* havp br-^n fitted with one of Mr Robert-, s patent extensions. The lower part of the fUmi 13 still bwitved by pome to contain god 111 very fuir quantities, but the loughuevi of the (Hound ha 3 proved to be an obstacle that cannot bf overcome by the dredge. Appaientlj whoii opern.t.ons were carried on the? fjo'd was got on the tips of the buckets, but th" ground was so rough and so full of fi siii re-; that success was noi attained. Sharei.o'ders in this company richly deserve the success which appears likely to attend present operations, as they have retained an interest in the venture with the iuo3t do^fr^d perseverance, in spite of the numerous <"• uculu-es and discouragement they have had to face. The company was registered 111 May, 1899 — lather more than four years ago, — and when the capital of £7500 proved insufficient the sum of about £2000 was subscribed for debentures by the share-holders. Tiie latter sum wa3 in turn spent withrut the company being placed in a. good position, and eventually it was deemed necessary to embark on a scheme for reconstruction. Notwithstanding tho vicissitudes that had been passed through, shareholders came to tho assistance of the directon with j\io>.iy, pud a i!ev, r company of 6000

shares, half contributing and half paid up, was formed. In m°."?y cases shareholders v.-ould become disheartened if they were net rewarded witli success after so many calls had been made upon them, but r.ot so with tho ho'ders of New Hilfway House shares. The directors deciding to s'nke a levy, shai eholders strain responded, and the money necessary to enable the top part of the claim to be tried was forthcoming. The fortunes of the company appear, however, to have changed for the better, and there is a prospect that shareholders will bo recouped to a great extent for 1 the looses they have sustained in the company. The returns for the la«t two weeks have been extreme y gratifying, and telegTams have been received from as far noith as Auckland congiatuiating the company on its succe^i.