NORTH BEACH GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2668, 3 May 1905, Page 27

NORTH BEACH GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

" The fifth annual general meeting of shareholders of the North Beach Gold Dredging | Company was held in the secretary's office, • Russell's Buildings. Water street, on Monday. Some nine shareholders were present, and Mr A. S. Adams occupied the chair. Tho'report and balance sheet (previously published) -were ta&en as read. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of j the report and balance sheet, regretted that i . Mr Bullock was not able to be present to ' ' take the chair, as he (Mr Adams) was in the i lmfortunajte position, of not being able to place before shareholders the somewhat rosy reports that had been presented in the past. The report would prepare shareholders for some state- ■ inents which he had to make. The pontoons"* ' ■ithey fotcad. had been built for the most part of red pine, with a strip of kauri at the waterline. The red pine, on examination, has "been found to be in an advanoed stage of decay. When Mr Nees went down to inspect the dredge -he found that the whole pontoons, from. ; below the waterline, would require to be re- ; paired, and other repairs were necessary, which ; meant an ascertained expenditure of £600, with an additional unascertained expenditure, i of probably £200, while the cash in hand ; amounted to £569 only. During the last six ] months or more the returns had not been such as to warrant the directors .launching out into | ; any further expenditure, especially in view of j ' the fact that they had not been able to get the dredge working sufficiently well to pay \ dividends. Now they had come to the position that they had to consider whether they ought ; to expend all the money theyjhad, and a little \ „ more, in order to. give the_ dredge a start, or whether they should consider an offer which had been made from a gentleman on the West Coast and received that evening. The offer is to take over the assets of the company, paying therefore sufficient to discharge the liabilities of the company and to return 5s net per share to the shareholders, each shareholder j to have the option of taking shares in the new company in lieu of cash. The sum required : would be about £2100. A deposit of £500 is to i be made to secure the compleition of the offer if accepted. The directors had this proposi- ■ tion before them at their last meeting, and while the offer was being discussed he thought : they agreed that it would be in the interests of the shareholders that gome sxich scheme j

; should be adopted At the same time he desired it to h<? clearly understood that the directors had nothing whatever to do with the proposilior>. What ths meeting had to consider now was whether they should proceed with the company as at prerent or accept the proposition. The report wag adopted. In reply to a question, the Chairman said the gentleman he referred, to was Mr Joseph Taylor, of Greymouth. Mr Taylor said he had only made the proposition after very careful consideration of the company's position and the possibility of getting anything out of it. This he despaired of doing. At the same time he confessed that he never had to do with a mining- company that was more carefully managed than the North Beach. He made this offer on the understanding that all the shareholders, or as many as possible, would put their interests in the present company into the new one. This seemed to him the only way of obtaining some leturn for their money. If the shareholders would stand by him he would do his best for them as well as for himself. He had somewhere about 1000 shares, and he had friends in the North Island who were willing to take up another 1500 if desired. After the matter had been fully discussed and questions asked and replied to, it was ultimately resolved — " That Mr Taylor's proposition be placed before the shareholders, with a recommendation from this meeting for its acceptance. The retiring direcors — Messrs George B. Bullock (Dunedin) and Joseph Taylor -(Grey- . " mouth) — were re-elected. Messrs Barr, Leary, | and Co. w-er-e also re-elected auditors for the company at the same In view of the foregoing .resolution deciding to submit his proposition to the shareholders Mr Taylor considered it better under the circumstances to tender his resignaition as a director, and resigned accordingly. A hearty vote of thanks to Mt Mercer (secretary) and the usual compliments 1 "to the retiring directors and the- chair concluded the busii ness. — .^ i