INCHDALE GOLD DREDGING COM

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 34

INCHDALE GOLD DREDGING COM-

FANY. The annual general meeting of shareholders '- xn the - Inohdaie Gold Dredging Company • Uliinrited) was held! at the Queen's Rooms, No. " E -Crawford street, on the 28th ult., and was attended, by the chairman of directors (Mr G. _* L."Denniston) and about 15 shareholders. * - The Chairman, in moving the adoption of Ihe report (already published) and balance . pheei. said ihe report told pretty well the history t of the year, which had not- been a ■ ceiy satisfactory one. The apologetic tone of the report was -entirely due to the claim, and .the secret of any non-success of the company was due to the poorness of the ground. Some comment had been made in regard to the action of the directors in building a house for the dredgemaster, but he thought the action of the directors in. this respect a right one. 1 The dredgemaster formerly lived some" miles away from the el-aim, and it was thought necessary not only that he should be near his work, "but that he should be near at hand to protect »nd guard valuabl-e machinery and.-,plant from *ny possible injury. The amount paid for the hxrase was £170, and it had been erected on the porapany's own land, arid it formed an asset In the "company's property. They had also jo-und it necessary to putchase from the County .Council the freehold of land that gave them jl valuable road through the company's property. Those familiar with, gold mining would i^ree that the moderate amount expended in joanagement and expenses was a proof that Ihe company was run in an economic tianner. * The directors throughout had teen honestly ajid energetically supported and assisted by their dredgemaster (Mr Brennan). The company, as they Jtnew, had commenced work under most disadvantageous circumstances, and when the flredge was built they were £1000 in debt, but that amount had all been paid off with the exception of £50. Tli-e amount had to be borrowed at a high interest rate at the time, but that interest charge had now disappeared. There w»3 still a large quantity of land to dredge on the Inchdale claim, and the dredge was just now entering the river bed, where the pTcspeots indicated that tJiey should 1 get a fair amount of gold. They had a nice little nest- egg of £137 Is 6d in current account in Ihe National Ba-nk, £203 in the Savings Bank, Rnd £51 12s lid in the Government Savings | IJank, which, with cash in hand, gave them a . .very decent credit. The policy of the directors had been not to trench upon this reserve fund, t>ut to keep it intact for emergencies. There . Rows enough m tiie reserve to pay a dividend of I

1 ' Is per share, but it would not be wise to touoh the reserve for any such purpose. ; Mr J. Malcolm callsd in question the wisdom of building a dredgemast-er's house and the buying of land, when the report stated that a large area of land available for diedging on the company's original claim had now been worked. The Chairman : There is siill a good deal 1 of land to work, and there is also the Inch- ' holme land. I Mr Malcolm: So far as I can see the dredge is merely returning sufficient gold to pay working -expenses, and I question whether it is right to keep the company going merely for the purpose of keeping men employed. The Chairman : We are like most mining ' companies; we are living in hope. ! Mr Malcolm: And it now looks as though ■we shall possibly die in despair. It seems to me that if the Inchdale land, which is understood to be the richest, can only return 12ioz, we cannot expect much better results from the Inchholme land. Mr J. A. Cook said Mr Malcolm did not quite understand the position, which was this : There was a certain amount of high terrace land in the claim, which was not dredgeable, and there was also some middle terrace land, and there vas the river bed land. Work was i commenced on the middle terrace ground, where in the first cut an average of 18oz was got, in the next out an average of 15oz was obtained, and as they approached the river the returns had diminished to 12Joz. But they had hopes that when they got to the ! river bed they would be able to turn over more 1 land, and, even -though the returns were less, the increased amount of stuff dealt with, it •was hoped, would compensate the company, -and a few ounces over working expenses might be obtained. He did not know whether, under the circumstances, they were 'doing the best thing in keeping the company going- by continuing they might get a few shillings more in dividends, or they might no^lmt if they continued and worked the dredge with the intention, if they did not succeed, of placing her close the road she would command a better price there than where she was now. They might get a return of 15oz, ox. even more, and under all the circumstances he thought it would be advisable to go on. If the river bed turned out well they would have the Inchhclnie land -to continue upon. The Dredgemaster (Mr ' Brennan), in rep'.y to a question, said the Inchholme land had been bored in two places, and much of it was dredgeable. The fend was also valuable for sale as dairying land, and had been valuable to the company for depositing sludge upon which would not have been allowed to be deposited} in the river. Mr Thomson said he Tinderstood that had the directors waited a few weeks longer they could have bought the Inchholme dredgemaster|s hpuse' for | £25. He thought the shareholders had been very patient for five years, and they had only got 2s out of the company. He thought it was the salaries that were .being paid that was hampering tffein. Their employees had had, five years of good salaries, and undter the circumstances that the shareholders had only received 2s in dividends he thought some economies should be effected, and the employees be- asked to accept a- little less than they had been getting. That would give the shareholders a chance. He had prepared some figriTes, ■which showed that economies in salaries would result in a saving of £252 3s 2cJ per annum. After a few further remarks the report and balance sheet 'were then unanimously adopted. Mr M. Cohen suggested that under the circumstances of the company the directors should 'be reduced to three in place of five. TEe" Chairman said the difficulty in the way of Mr Cohen's suggestion was that the articles of association-, said the directors should be five. • Only a" vote of the shareholders at a general meeting could alter the articles of association ; but he was sure if the shareholders wished) it the directors would not put any difficulties in the way. • Mr Cook thought it would be a pity to reduce the number of directors, as there might be a difficulty in securing a quorum. What he thought would ba a better plan would be for shareholders to suggest that the directors' fees should be reduced; but it was not economies of this character that would make any material difference in the position of the company. The Chairman said he agreed with Mr Cook that it was not small economies that went to make the difference between a paying and a non-paying coinpaarfei On the motion of the fflrairman, Messrs J. A. _ Cook andi F. Canning- were then reaptjointed_ as directors, and, the number of directors and remuneration to remain as formerly. j The Chairman then referred to the proposed economies mentioned by Mr Thomson, and after discussion it was pointed out that £160 proposed to be saved in engineer's salary was already being partly saved, but qpuld not be entirely saved. Mr Thomson also pointed out that the company could not pay its servants less than the Arbitration Court awardte. Mr Corliss, speaking with an experience of a number of companfes, said the dredge was being -worked -as economically, if not more so, than any other dredge in ths colony. Mr Thomson, combated Mr Corliss's view, and the subject then dropped. Mr Vivian" was then re-elected as auditor, at the same remuneration as formerly, and the meeting adjourned. BAREWOOD GOLD MINING COMPANY. The annual meeting of the Barewood Gold Mining Company was held in the Queen's Rooms, Crawford street, on Wednesday. Ihe meeting was presided over by Mr H. Adam (chairman of directors), and was attended by 15 shareholders. The Chairman moved the adoption of the 1 report (already published) and balance sheet I s,nd in doing ho said he regretted they were ! not in a more favourable position. The year's ' operations showed a debit balance under re- 1 jceipts and expenditure of some £700, but he ' did not tiink they should look at the gloomy side entirely. They had a lot of tailings to j try which should bring, say, £2000, and their mining engineer held out a hope of improvement in the ore in No. 2 level. If their anticipations in this respect were realised, and a good piece of stone was struck, it •would enable them to sink further down; j but if they were not successful in this respect , they would probably have to deepen the shaft to at least 80ft. or, if possible, 100 ft , below No. 2 level, and that would mean an extra call. They could not tell, of course, ' whether the lower stone would be good or | not, but the engineer was of opinion that 1 ! profitable ore would be opened up if the present value of ore continued down. Everything in connection with the mine was working very well, and the new plant, oil engine, etc., were giving satisfaction, and their expenses were cut down to a minimum. Mr! Molineaux, their new nilne manager, was a good man, and they were fortunate in getting Such a man after the satisfactory services rendered by the late manager, Mr Hitchcock. He hoped the company would Jbe able to resume the payment of dividends before long. The cyanide plant was just about ready, and they "had about 3000 tons of accumulated tailings to treat by the process. He mo-veil

the adoption of the report and balance sheet.

Mr Mitchell seconded the motion, which was carried.

Mr D. B. Wsiers, engineer to Ihe company, made some general remarks on the work of the year, on the lines of his report to the directors, and which was included in the report to the shareholders. The cyanide plant would ba ready for operations in a iew dpys, and from assays made they expected a return of 4dwt per ton, at a cost of not more than 2s or 2s 6d per ton for treatment, and the returns from this aouice would considerably enhance the gold returns.

Mr Mitchell moved that it be a recommendation to the directors to call up the remaining capital, and said his reason for dciiig so was to get over the unsatisfactory position of having two classes of capital, and also to do away with the necessity of charging to revenue works that should be charged to capital.

Mr D. Reid, jun., M.H.R., said only onehalf of the capital was called up by arrangement, and it was then expected that about 10s per share would be sufficient for the work.

Mr Wilson thought it would be unwise to call up the balance of capital, as money in hand soon found wings, and when money was wanted for necessary work it would not be there. It ' would be a different matter if the company had not a good contributors' list. Mr D. B. Waters said the only capital expenditure in prospect was for further sinking, and it was hoped the money for this would be available out bf earnings. Mr C. Speight remarked that the directors had under consideration -«sic question of making a call ; but it was " the last thing they would like to do, and it would not be done unless it became necessary.

Mr Mitchell said he had only mentioned the ■ matter in the interests of shareholders. He thought it would be better to have the money in hand as a reserve fund, .as no matter who their contributors were, th"- c was always a possibility of misfortune ove^aking ore or other of them.

Mr "D. Reid, jun., suggested that a ■way cmt of the position -would be to charge half the cost of sinking to capital and' half to profits. After further discussion Mr Mitchell agreed to withdraw the motion, .which had been seconded ioro forma, and leave the matter for the consideration of the directofs. Messrs Hugh Adam and H. E. Wilson, the vetirins directors, -were re-elected, and Messrs ( Win. 'Brown and Co. were re-elected as j auditors. „ , , On the motion of Mr Murray, seconded by Mr Waters, a vote of thanks was passed to the new mine manager for hii services to the company, and the meeting adjourned.