THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 2600, 13 January 1904, Page 25

THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS

At "WincheoEer House, Old Broad street, la3t Tuesday (writ&s our London correspondent on November 28), the second ordinary general meeting of the Premier Sunrise (New Zealand) Gold Mining Company was held, Mr J. I*. Matthews presiding. In moving the adoption of the report (a summary of which I -sent you last week) the Chairman said that it was of a very satiefactory nature, and the directors had endeavoured to give in it as much information as possible to the shareholders. It would be seen from the revenue account that legal expenses amounted to £208, nearly all of which was due to the company having taken extradition proosedjtigo to bring back a late official. A sum. o? £61 had been written off for depreciation of plant. In regard to preliminary expenses, it was a satisfactory feature that the directors had been able to kee-p flvem down to something like £30 under the amount mentioned in the prospectus. The profit for the 18 months under review vaa over £2000, and, in spite of the defalcations of the ofScial referred to, after writing off oundry items, they were left with a balance of £1410, out of which th© directors recommended the payment of a* dividend of 3d psr share (T2£ per cent.) free of income rax. leaving a balance to be carried forward of £785. He was glad to say that fche last few reports received from the manager at the mine were of a more satisfactory nature than those received during the earlier months of the year. The report was adopted unanimously, and the meeting terminated. January 6. — Messrs James Samson and Co. will sell on Saturday, 16th inst., a number of mining claims m the Horseshoe Bend district, also mining plant. The Lady Roxburgh dredge h^3 been undergoing a number of repairs during the week, and it is expected that it will take another week or 10 days to complete overhauling the machinery. The master and engineer of the Cornwall dredge have b&en busily engaged during the holidays in overhauling the maehinciy and effecting repairs. Operations will probably bs resumed about the Bth inst. The directors of the New Fairdown Company are not allowing matters in connection with the dredge to drift. Steps are being taken to arrange for the removing of the machinery preparatory to repairing the stiamed pontoon, and no time will be lost in again getting the dredge into commission. Giatifying offers of financial assistance are being received from shareholders in all directions, and holders of shares in districts remote from the scene 01 operations will be encouraged by the enthusiastic manr.-er in which the local shareholders have already shown their strong faith in the value of the claim. A meeting was held at Waikaia on Monday night, presided orer by Mr E. T. Stewart, local dnec^or, whe:i the 14 shareholders present expressed their willingness to take up 52 £5 deb=nttucs, or a total of £'263, to assist in getting the necessary v. or!: undertaken without delay. A general expression cf opinion at the meeting showed that tho local men who are in a position to judge of the value of the claim, were det?inur_ed not to allow ths xecent mishap to jeopardise the cor.ipanv in any way. The dircctois have also had a number of voluntary offers from town shrreliolders to tcke up debsnturca rs sco 1 as they .are 'nviifd 'o do so. As soo-t as uu estimai 2 oi the cc=t ol the work is obtained shartho'deis v.'ii! be circularised, and it is corfidently anticipated that a prompt and satibfac'oiy rcspouss •will bo forthcoming. The Alexandra Lead drcJge had a gcoJ lti.i last week, but, owing to the holidays, only a short time whs worked. Tlie wr&h was nuch ■the same as that previously met with, and w?s very patchy. It is not expected that the return for this week will be very large, as it was intended to work the old paddock that "'ad taken out wben the hydraulic company were piospecting some years ago. The river is falling

fast, and it will soon be necessary to put the elevator on the dredge, as it will Lot be possible to work much further ahead without being bothered with tailings.

January 7. Tenders are invited for the purchase of the Gentle Annie pontoons, housing, and boats. The master of tho Mataa dredge reports a leturn of 17oz for five days' work prior to Christmas. A call of 2d per share has been made on all contributing shares in th-e Shotovef Quartz Mining Company, ppyable on Wednesday, 13th inst. The Molyneux ELohinoor dredge resumed operations last Tuesday at noon. Before work was suspended on December 24 the prospects fell off on the inside of the cut, and a start was made to open out on the outside. As the river has now fallen considerably it is expected that satis-factory returns will be fortcoming. During the holidays the machinery has been overhauled and repaired. On the Gabriel dredge on Tuesday afternoon, the crew met and presented Mr P. Uren, who has just severed his connection with the dredge as master in order to take tip a similar appointment on the West Coast, with a travelling bag as a token of their esteem and goodwill. Mr J. Harris, the actmg-dredgemaater, made the presentation, and in doing so referred to the good , feeling which had always existed between Mr ! Uren and his crew, and expressed the hope that the expectations in regard to the Victory dredge, of which he was about to take charge, would be fully realised. If not, they would rest assured it would not be Mr Uren's fault. Mr Uren suitably replied. Messrs W. Kemp (blacksmith, Lawrence) and T Gillespie (dredgema&ter of the Happy Valley dredge) have (says the Tuapeka Times) between them devised a means of greatly prolonging the life of the ordinary dredge bucket, and at the same time minimising the cost of repairs. All who have had experience with dredging machinery know how severe the wear is on the bucket runners and how difficult and costly a, ' job it is to have them reversed — a process that after all is only a temporary relief. The improvement consists of covering the runner in the first place with a protection of gin angle \ steel, or " shoe," as Mr Kemp calls it, which 1 is affixed by means of a couple of rivets which

• are easily lemoved when the " shoe requires replacing. In the case of old buckets, the " shoe " can be fitted to cover the part that has " been worn, and by this means the bucket, so far as the runners are concerned, is as good a3 new. The cost of replacing runners on %, set of dredge- buckets would lun into something f like £100, and mean a very considerable loss oi time. By adopting this new plan, the cost would not be a quarter of that, and the timo 1 lost would ba merely a trifle. Quite a number of diedgirg men have examined the old bucket which has ju3t been fitted with this " shoe,"' and have expressed their surprise that so effective and simple a device had not been thought of ; before. January 8. i Messrs D. M. Fea and Co. will offer for sale at their rooms on Saturday, 16th mst., the New Golden Gravel Diedgmg Company's dredge and ■ claim. \ The secretaiy of the Watterson's-Ahaura Gold 1 Dredging Company received a telegram from v the master on Thursday stating that work was \ resumed last Wednesday. Y^hiie operations i were suspended a number of alterations were ■ effected to the tables, and these have evidently I been an improvement, as the master stated that ! the tables were working well. i The first meeting of the provisional directors cf the Masterton Gold Dredging Company was held on "Wednesday evening ior the purpose of allotting shares and fixing the date of the first statutory general meeting. The directors ■of the company are Messrs John Hessey (Masterton), W. Hcsscy, J. N. Merry, J. R. Jones, and J. Brown. Mr W. E. C. Reid ha 3 been appointed secretary. It was deeded to hold the first statutory general meeting of shareholders on Wednesday, Febiuary 10, at 8 o'clock at the secretary's office. The Sandy Point diedge was undergoing repans all last week, the time being spent on the elevator buckets. It was expected to have these completed and coupled up last Tuesday. Tho master of the E'ecwic No. 1 dredge reports tho/t it was expected to have the necessary alterations completed and the chimney erected in position last V> T ednesday. If the river is suitable it is intended to resume operavons next week, but before doing so the dredge wiU he diopped back a length As the iece:t floods have washed away the taii : ngs it is miorded to weik a narrow strip of giouud on the Ciomvell side of the cut. It is not thought that this will take ve±y lo vj to get owr a .id shou'd it not prove payable the dred™ v.-ill be r.ble to work the good ground in a fac?. On the other hand, fahcu'd the ground piove payaVe, it will be. wo. lced right up to the basin on the Cromwell side, as then it ".'ill lie poasib'e to dredge in the ba-ifl if the liver should rice The Alexandra Herald fivs the Moa. Alrxandra Lead, Peiseveia ice No-. 1 and 2, MoV ?'.cux Hvdrruic, pad ibe Eam'ckurh Companies' dredges ar= wo.k.ug steadily. The Olrig drodge resumed work at ihe beginning of the week rftcr ? 10 days' =topprge.

J.--. uuiv 9 Tlie master of tho Gab-i»l c'redg? iefor:s tli -t \.o:l: w"s lcsaaicd 011 Thi^-id .y rftcracc-i, cvciyth'i's ru>i"ing well. r x"~3 mis'fi 1 ct the Sun=hire cirefljo wir.Hl m Fii-&y th-r ii v „"?.'N'thf'is.;cnur". .•- tic:"s c. two clq\ > 111 o dT to ?ficet fc."c ati It'o. %c ; ii I'm e'i^-'.0.. It 1- i' f e:ti:d to -»a'/li\i on Ho. d \ . *Th? Na t v c tl'-t I --- L">'er F. Iml di^d_,c i"-'-•>i f s iB, t'i° diedg? \ a=! si t- 1 ? 1 to tlip 1i; i'jr.d sect.ou o." i'l- *ay" en Dec.mbei n. 1' <•• sOn of I' 1 ? f?c? "..r- vci. rcoi but ' reg" 1"• 1o bs worked ahs'id f c • a fcitiii-^- c in o br <o bock the cret-k pur- to tunU'is? the drec!s.f> into the better run of ground on the right ha> d s:de. On T,"ed'io«d'iy week a sioppajj-e of 10i lir.urs wa'-. c-t> cd t'irourli p s^g^t mishao. All th 3 gear is now running v. ?11 The master and c-nsinesr of H.esse^'s diedge

griva the maclimeiy a good ovcih"iil during tho holidays. It vas ex_)Ci te-d to ha\c cvei\th ng in icadinesa to resume opEi"L,ons. laot Tuesday night. It is expecte'l that it will take r.l' r.-xt week to complete the repairs to the Dur>s ait Lead drcjgo and have the machinery ready to resume operations. The bcilti was 11 pcit.ou, and it is expected to bs gieatly imr'cvrd when finished. Tho Three-mils Greonsto n c dredge was undcigomg a liunibT oi lepj.ll a last week. Th? buckets were hpped and repaued, and the ira -1 engine was cleared oat and painted, whi c a number of minor piitn cf the rnarhmeiy weie attended to. The return for this work is Wcz Gdwt ior 20 hcuis' vork. The mr=ter stated that the d'xdge had been vvciknig in silt for the most of the week Mr W. Wyhe, reporting on tho Bigneii's No Town dredge, under date Jamuiy 4, stated that during last week a turn was tjken cut of tho main engine and Winch under steam for tho purpose of testing the joints, valves, etc. IC was expected to have a good trial run of the machinery towards the end of thi3 week, and th«> secretary is daily expecting a telegram stating that this has been successfully accomplished. The Mystery Flat dredge lesumed operations last Monday, all the machinery running well. A meeting of shareholders in the Speo uully Gold Dredging Company has been called for the purpose of considering the positon of the company's affairs, and, if deemed expedient, to carry the following resolution: — ''That it having been piovcd to tho satisfaction of the shareholders that the company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, it be wound up voluntarily, under the provisions of " The Companies Act, 1882,' and its amendments." Should this resolution be passed by the required majority, it will be submitted for confirmation as a special resolution to a second extraordinary general meeting, when a resolution will also be proposed for the appointment of a liquidator, for the purpose of winding up the affairs of the company, and for fixing the remuneration to be paid to him. The Lake County Press understands that Mr W. J. Farrell has put men on to work his mine at ifacetown. The whole country around Macetown is abounding in payable reefs, which only require developing to prove their auriferous nature. Januaiy 11. The Chicago dredge will probab'y resume work this week. The Buller Junction dredge resumes operations to-day. The secretary of the Cromwell Gold Dredging Company reports receipt cf advice from the master fo the effect that operations were lesumed on Friday. The master of the Rising Sun dredge reports that there was no wash-up last week, end that the cut had been bailed out. There was no wash-up on the Molyneux Kohinoor dredge last week. January 12. The directors of the ISTe-w Fairdown Gold Dredging Company have accepted a tender for raising, repairing, and lengthening the elevator of the dredge, subject to the company being able to raise the necessaiy capital by the issue of debentures. The appeal for more capital is being favourably received, and shareholders are responding very well with additional funds. Shareholders of the Monte Christo Dredging Company who have not alieady subscribed their quota of the lew ate requested to do so before the 16th inst. The company is only £372 in debt, and is not mortgaged in any way, ■ and if shareholders who have not already paid their levy will do so at once, the dredge can be put in order, and will be in a position to take advantage of a fall in the river. Failing a sufficient an'Otmt being subscribed liquidation or reconstruction will have to be considered.