THE NEW RIVER MOLYNEUX GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 8 July 1903, Page 34

THE NEW RIVER MOLYNEUX GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in the New Eiver Molyneux Gold Dredging Company was held on Friday evening to consider the financial position of the company. Mr A. Tapper, chairman of directors, occupied the chair, and there were seven o'.h.er shareholders present.

The Chairman expressed his regret at having had to call the sharehold'&rs together to consider the financial position of thb company, which they all thought was gong to turn out one of the very best. He would assure them that the directors had been very careful, and had shepherded their finance as well as it w*s possible, so that this claim might be fairly tested. As they knew, thu ocmpan. had been, reconstructed with a capital of £2000. No doubi they wou'd like to know what h^ become of that. The secretary had drawn up a> statement 3howing where it ..hud .gone. It had cost them £950 to biiy back the dredge, they had spent £196 8s 6d in length"enin£~the ladder, and a further sum of £796 103 3d had been expended in flotation expenses, wages, coal, insurance. Outstanding accounts amounted to £646 4s, and against this sum they had th« dredge and £87 9s lOd in the bank were thus in arrears to the extant of about £560. They hs>d v.i Mr Keen a fusi.-o'R.ss dredgeinaster, in whom tlicy had every confidence. Mr Keen, ho was sure, had doae 1113 very best for the company. Ho had Wen tod that it was necessary that the company should get gold as early as possible, and he was to go to the spot where he waa .niost likely to get it. Unfortunately h^ had not succeeded in gatting any. He had written to the directors staling that ho wou'd 'ilce to try the upuer part of the claim, near to where another company waa getting go!d, and whoro gold was b<Miig obtained on both s de* of the river. As the directors, however, had' promised Messrs A and T. Burt that they would not run into debt, that firm having baleen a bill for their contract account on this understanding, and as expensss were running on, they thought it unfair to carry on s.ny more testing until they were in a better fiio.nelal position. They had therefore callrd the shareholders tog-other The di-reotors had a'ready proposed tho* a Isvy of Is 6d nor shi>re shou'd bo made or that debentures should bo i&Tued. So far the response to the levy waa only £83 'fe 6d, and the number of debentures- applied for waa only 16. Unless shareholders came up to the scratch better thnn this they would rot be «ble to carry on a-ad, give the claim the test it deserved to got Tho secret uy then read the two latest reports received from the drodgamasfcer In them ho s'fltcd (lrit tho cla.im had nnver had a fnvr trial, at lea-st uot m his time. Ther? must be gold i a it somewhere. It be all a blank. There were two places in it lie wou'd like- to try ' . . Aiter discnaaion, it was docided on the motion of Captain Su-cl&trum— " That in ordsr to give •tho claim a further trial a levy of Is 6d per share, boa,ri»ug interest at the rn-to of 100 per cent., bo mad?." The secretary wao instructed to interview tho Thmedin shareholders, and see if they wvuld bo willing to pay the levy. It was decided not to proceed unless the amount raissd came to £'?00. This would pay wag<*s and allow of a further trial of one month beirg given. All those pro3ont intimated their willingness to pay tho lovy, and it s<v'Tti like'y the di-vjgo will recommence in n ti.»«-V or tvrn