MOLYNEUX KOHINOOR DREDGING

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

MOLYNEUX KOHINOOR DREDGING

COMPANY.

The annual general meeting of the_ Molyneux Kohinoor Dredging Company (Limited),, held at the company's registered office on the 23th ult., was attended by 15 shareholders. Mr Hugh Adam occupied the chair. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the annual report, stated that since the letting of the dredge and claim on tribute the company had made a, profit of £223 18s 8d out of the same, and the tribute had another month to run. The directors had not decided what course they should pursue after that, but he was in favour of the dredge -being taken over by the company and worked for the benefit of the shareholders. The position shareholders would see for themselves by the balance .sheet. The company had) to its credit balance about £600 in hand, the greater portion of which was capital and. could not be distributed until the company— went into liquidation.

After a brief discussion the report was adopted, and the question of whether the company should take the dredge over and work it or should continue to have it worked on tribute was left in the hands of the directors.

A motion was put before the meeting to the effect that the company should* take over the dredge itself and work it with a fresh dredgemaster and' crew, and in the event of failing to make it pay the company should go into liquidation, but this was withdrawn.

Messrs A. James and F. W. Mitchell were re-elected directors, and Mr Davidson was re-elected auditor.

ALEXANDRA BONANZA GOLD DREDG-

IN<3 AND SLUICING COMPANY.

The annual meeting of the Alexandra Bonanza Gold Dredging and Sluicing Company was held on Tuesday afternoon in the Slock Exchange. There was close or? a dozen shareholders present, and Mr William; Brown (chairman of directors) presided.

The Chairman sai^ the report and balance sheet had been in- the hands of shareholders for over a week, and, on the report being taken as read, added x that that simplified any few j comments lie had to make, and they were not many. He was sorry the balance sheet was not rosier than it was, but after all the position was not so very much different to what it was when t<hey -last met — matters were not in an unwholesome state. In the early part of the past year, when they had met, and when they held gp-ecial meetings in February and March, they had in their minds the utilising of the water they had by selling it at a weekly rate per head to those who had mines in the immediate neighbourhood, and to those who wished .to irrigate land. Preference shares to the extent of £3000 were authorised to be issued, and were offered, but the response was exceedingly meagre, and the directors themselves had not felt justified in taking up the whole of the prefernce shares not applied, for. The result was, looking at the surroundings, that it was deemed inadvisable to proceed further, as without the issue of the preference shares they had not the money necessary for extending the race. At the last meeting they still had in their minds the project of letting the water, but difficulties arose. Unless they ex- | tended their lines to deliver water at the claims they could not hope fox- contracts for the 1 supply of water, and on the other hand if these claim-holders made their own extensions of the race themselves there would be a certain amount of outlay, which could only be guaranteed to them by having! long contracts, which the company could not see its way to grant. Mr Matthews, who was appointed manager last year, had been asked to i go oare"fully over the whole ground and l-eport. ! His report had been to the effect that if he was j allowed to alter the plant somewhat, and had an increase of pipes, the low ground would, he thought, turn out profitable to shareholders. The whole of Mr Matthews' s request had not been granted, but they had authorised the concentration of the water in the direction indicated with the plant already in hand. The directors had gone very caaefully into the whole matter, and three of their number had visited the claim, and they had) come to the conclusion that the best cour.se to. adopt was to consent to this second line of 15in pipes being obtained to concentrate the power and get through the ground more rapidly, as suggested by their manager. The water w.as a Very valuable asset, and there was an increasing demand for it. He believed if they held on to the water they would come oub better than they had anticipated, even in the most si-n^iiine esfi.epta_ J v ions joossibl^jUirmg llijL

last two years. With regard to the balance sheet there v, as an amount for unpaid calls, but a proportion of this had been since paid. There, however, still remained an amount to collect, and some of these who had got behind with their payments weie paying up gradually. He thought" the who'e of the meney outstanding, with the exception of about £50. might be considered good. The balance at the Bank of New Zealand was covered by the directors' guarantee, and that again was covered by mortgage over the whole property. He had been surprised to hoar when up country that if. was understood the whole thing belonged to a few " bloated capitalists," and that the .shareholders had iaeen " chucked out," but though the property was under moitgage it still belonged to the shareholders. The directors had not ousted a single 'shareholder who had paid up from the position originally held, and the directors had no preference' of position. He moved the adoption of the report (already published) and balance sheet, and desired to intimate that it was the intention cf the directors to cairy out the recommendations with regard to the extension of tho water power, and make sn effort to work the ground profitably by sluicing.

Mr Blair seconded the motion for the adoption of the report and balance sheet.

The Chairman, replying to a question, explained that when the building of the dam wall was stamped it was immediately before the winter. They could not go on then, and the wall \ras left in such a position that they could increase the height of it by 6ft or Bft. They had now before them the estimate of the manager for the erection of a wall that would complete the dam, and the sum was £250.

Mr G. Fenwick, asked by the Chairman -to speak a few words, said the position had been fully explained by Mr Brown. Prior to visiting the claim over a. week ago he had no idea the asset they had was so valuable as he now believed it to be. It. was very unfortunate they were in their present > financial position, but he was quite convinced the directors were quite justified in taking the additional liability, because when the work was completed the value of the property would be increased by a much larger sum than the amount to be expended' upon it. There could be no two opinions as to the value of the company's water. He thought shareholders might be satisfied, though the company appeared to have been unfortunate on the surface, that if they cou'd only tide over their present difficulties they had a reasonable prospect of selling their water in a way that would give a fair "return on the capital.

After one or two further remarks the motion for the adoption of the report and balance sheet was -out and carried.

Messrs G. Fenwlek and E. C. Reynolds •were re-elected directors, and Mr A. J. C. Brown auditor ; auditor's fee to be the same as last year. Mr Fenwick mentioned that it was only due to the directors to say that they h?d not had any fees for several years, j A vote of thanks to the chair closed the meeting. THE NEW ROXBURGH JUBILEE DREDGING COMPANY. The following rejpoit for the year ended 31st January will be presented to shareholders in the New Roxburgh Jubilee Gold Dredging Company at the annual general meeting : — " Your directors have again pleasure in reporting the continued success of Hie company's operations during the past year. The year's work at the 'claim has resulted in a total return of 28300z 2dwt, valued at £10 233 15s 3d. Out of this amount the sum of £6375 has been paid in dividends to shareholders. The total gold won since the dredge started work in July, 1902, is 61560z 7dwt 18gr. valuea at £23,927 14s 4d. Out of this amount there has been paid in dividends £14,240 11s, equal to 38s per share. The returns for the last four or five weeks have been somewhat disappointing, but now that the dredge is working in our summer ground we look forward to returns similar to those with which she left off last year. The drecl'gemaster reports the dredge in thorough working order, ard your directors have every reason to believe that the future prospects of the claim are quite as encouraging as in the past."

On 31st January last the company had cash on deposit and interest accrued amounting to £1739 8s 7d, in addition to which there was a balance at the bank to the amount of £154 19s 2d. As against this there were sundry creditors amounting to £458 4s 3d', while -fiiere were contingent liabilities estimated at £350.