NEW ZEALAND OILFIELDS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13170, 2 September 1913, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND OILFIELDS.

A STORMY MEETING

COMMITTEE QF INQUIRY ORDERED -' . LQ-JBoM, July 4. The ttdjourt^e'd second ' annual ordinary #eM*^*al meeting'of th'e'New Zealand Oilfields, Ltd. ' (Gisborne district) Avas help m London this week, and al ong and stormy scene- requite*"! in ' the shareholders) appointing a committee of investigation In v : ew of this decisi,pn, the board's proposal to issue priority shares, was hot proceeded with. Captain C. L. Wallace presided, and went : through the - attcounte ht (detail.' With regard to .the : sum "of £7500 dud to the company, by Mr George Mac-, donald he said that that gentleman had, provided. the ePmp&riy with certain secu-| riti'es- and 'gua^ant'ees which the directors hope_ wb'iud m time, and perhaps, m a ihprt time, realise the .amount required..' In view pf, the proposal, .which was to be "submitted at a -pe'eial .g'enei*ai'nleet-. ing, • what i they hati pHticipallj" ": to consider was the pfcospect of making a success, ol the. operations m the: future.'; I'h'eii* .present manager (Mr Willans). had devoted -ill his time and attention to' the No. '2 bPre at Waihirere, where the prospects were most favorable. He read several extracts from Mr . Willans' re-: ports, m which that .gentleman, .spoke very favorably of this well; he was con-, vinced of the presence ot oil m that district, and the only question was ohe of , Unie and nieney m bVel'comirig the drilling difficulties due , to the unfavorable . geological formatioh ahct getting down 10. the 6il.

QUESTIONS TO THE BOARD. ' Mr Derby asked how many but of the 44 concessions;' that the company took over had been exploited up to ; the present time. ..'. '■ . . . ' ,1

Mr Roselibaum complained that when m sent a humber of -questions to the secretary he' got a letter; from the solicitors, refusing the - information. He," therefore, was gping to repeat them at the meeting. He wanted to know the real reason why Mr Macdonald resigned from^.the board, what security the.directors held for the loan of £7500 advanced to. Mr Macdonald, whether the shareholders, or any part of tneifi) \yere consulted oh this matter, what was the" value pf the 477fl shares m 'the. Algerian Oilfields, which wtej'e purchased by this' Company,, and the. name .of the, person from whom they were purchased- . : :He considered the time ' nad . come .when* sharehplders . should press fbi* ififormation. They wanted to. know what had been done witpt their ..money. . : He jwas; pf . Ppiliion that the money, had been frittered away. Iri his opinion a com-' mittee pfLainspefctio'n'- ought to be appointed. - -. i r "•■'•■ ' SHAREHOLDERS FOOLED. ' Mr Darby itteld.t that the questions put by the previous speakej.*«hould, be. answered before any scheme of reorganisation was considered. He was not satis-, fled with th--. assbrances they „ad received of a much better result," if "the" soheme of recpnstructipp was allowed, to .go through and Ihe shareholders -g&ve the board mbrb hibriey. ' He bpiMidered,that shareholders were fooled fn last' year's report,, because they were told to expect that by this time they would be producing oil on a fairly large-scale. In: that report they were told they had had 2oz of oil sent, from New Zealand '"'to be analysed.- He' thought they ought to have a thorough inquiry, and he would be sorry to advise anyone to go into this ■ scheme of reconstruction. He was not going into it. It' was no 'good throwing good money after bad, and the company should go into liquidation, and see what they could make of the 44 concessions they held. .With regard to the money lent. to Mr Macdonald, the chairman thought they had a reasonable chance of getting, it back ; but the auditor*", "i then* report, to think it doubtful. If the previous speaker would nioye that thfe "meeting be adjourned to receive a report from a committee, or to receive replies to his questions at a subsequent meeting, po further scheme being launched 'until the questions had been satisfactorily answered, he would second it. -'v

Mr Tagg said he had had some experience m oil companies,\a.nd w4ts.one.ofa committee appointed tb investigate " the affairs of the Kern River Company. Jfie went to California and sa"w:_. great deal of the oilfields there. . He had a great deal more faij^ m \hoae oilfields' than he had 1 iri New v Zealand oilfields. He thought they ought to investigate the matter further, even if it was only for the sake of those who proposed to assist •in' the reconstruction, and prevent their rushing, mtp the enterprise. He. would like to know how they could ever have .hoped to succeed with -paying fSTIi t OCk) fo*? concessions- ahd leaving nothing for working capital. - He waa not sure it : would not be best to go into liquidation i;and for the liquidator to investigate [everything; Put he would, put it to, the board whether it would not be better to have a shareholders' committee, adjourn' j the meeting, and place the whole, of the boPks and papers and the solicitors', services at the disposal of the committee. '■::.. Mr Lane asked if any oil at all had beeii found on the properties, because he had been over them, "• and formed the [Opinion that on. Account^ of the volcanic nature of the country it was very impossible to obtain oil there. Mr Church said he fully endorsed all that had been said, and he had himself had. some. . experience .of New Zealand. He Would lite to '"see the whole 1 thing smashed up, as it would be better for their peace of mind. Mr, Mounsey characterised the balance sheet as the .most, unsatisfactory it, had ever been his, lot to see. The, expenditure for 15 months amounted to £2913 or, m other words, it had cost' them that amount to throw away £10,242. Even if they had got value for their money, the ratio of expenditure to -development would be something shocking- r -over' 3Q per -cent., a large proportion of 'which went .m directors?, fees and office expens-' es- ': ■.. ■'•*.' THE CHAIRMAN'S REPLY . The Chairman said the £7500 was ; not a loan to Mr. Macdonakl, and . none pf the 'present directors had had anything to dp with ; the 'transaction. Mr. "Macdonald was managipg -director of the company, and certain money had been placed m his hands^ for the. purposes of the company. 'He' had placed securities -m the . hands' of ' the board , and it was his r ; wish: .to n replace .the money as quickly as* possible. .. A • question \ was*;' asked •as to' 1 whether oil had been found on the property. Oil was'never fpund; m any .quantity until they- actually" 'got to the oil. strata. ..The , board had had a 'very strenuous and anxious time.. Of the 44 concessions only t two had been exploited.— (laughter) A considerable- amount of work had 'beeni done on the Inglewood property .with a. view to- floating it, bait pw'ing to the general state of things they had ..to abandon the ia'e'i of' 'floating. <I theconi : pany. ■ At various times'* various wellknown and powerful groups had endeavoured to get this property from ; them, but thev.haa kept it m the hope of being able to make use of it for the 'company. A scheme was put forward, but (the shareholders m, "New Zealand objected, ,and : therefore ' it had tq be ; abandoned. „They had either to reconstruct the cPnipaiiy or go into liquid: ation. He was perfectly willing that the company should go "into, liquidation, and that ; the liquidatpr '-,- should " investigate everything. In view of this he did: pot intend to tell/them what tho" securities' weret- which the board held from Mr. Macdohald.— ((^Oh, oh," and laughter). It was then moved that a shareholders committee should., be appointed to m- | jvestigate ari<i report t,o ; a .eu^eeauentj , meeting uppftfthe whole, position of the company irbni its inception to the present time, 'and on being put to the meeting it>waß< -carried with only one dissentient. A- committee was then appointed consisting of >fesers. George Mounsey, A;. BanI r ,J..,"f, Merchant, F^ojs, 'worthy ,' E. J. li-ne, J. Rosenbaum, a#d Captain F. M. Cobbam. „,...-. . c. The proceedings "then term'iriated, the special general meeting for, consideration "of "the prpposed ' lssue of priority sihares not being Jiel'd.-^OtagO .Daily Times correspondent. '■-.__