THE WAIHI MINE

Southland Times, Issue 16687, 16 March 1911, Page 5

THE WAIHI MINE

A CIRCULAR TO SHAREHOLDERS BT THE WELLINGTON COMMITTEE (Per United Press Association). WELLINGTON. March 15. The following has been handed by by the Waihi shareholders’ Wellington committee to the Press for publication:—"To the Shareholders of the Waihi Gold Mining Company.—The informal tion contained in Press Association reports from Auckland, published on Tuesday, is confirmed by the receipt this morning of the circular therein referred to, and the shareholders’ committee has immediately met to reply thereto. The committee of shareholders would like to point out that the present movement was a voluntary one on the part of shareholders throughout the Dominion. The movement was brought about by the class of information furnished by the company’s officers, which in many cases was not issued within reasonable time of suck information becoming known to them. For example, shareholders were informed by local officers that a certain output would be maintained and a dividend paid as usual, notwithstanding that they were aware that the mine had been under a cloud for nine months, vide Williams’ report. It was the frequency with which the statements of the company's officers were proven by subsequent events to be erroneous that culminated in the unanimous adoption throughout the Dominion of the resolutions passed at a shareholders’ meeting in Wellington on February Ist, which emphatically expressed the shareholders’ present opinions and wishes, showing that shareholders’ confidence in the present management is absolutely shattered. The resolutions were notified to the local attorney and the London Boards. Attention was drawn to them by cable, but elicited no response from either London or Auckland, except Mr Richards’ hurriedly' drafted report, which is apparently disregarded by the local ■» directors, as they are now asking for a fresh investigation on the lines asked for by the shareholders. Messrs Rhodes and George are now asking for proxies on behalf of the Board of Directors (who appointed local attorneys) to propose similar resolutions at the forthcoming annual meeting. It is significant that no notice Is taken of resolutions touching on the keeping of the share register at Auckland passed by Auckland shareholders at their meeting. Are shareholders prepared to leave the carrying out of their own, resolutions In the hands of the present Board of Directors and administrator, whose methods of business are to adopt resolutions from their critics without acknowledgment, purely t? obtain proxies for retention of the present administration? Mr Topham has been known to members of the local committee for some years, or they have known of him from his intimate knowledge of the mine’s' affairs as expressed at the annual meeting of the company, and they have his assurance that ho is a large shareholder, and he has personally signed the circular as a shareholder. The committee have had a week’s close conference with him, and is confident that if he is elected the Waihi Moard will have at least one director who has a p rsonal knowledge of its officers. Your committee is satisfied that Mr Topham from his personal knowledge of mines, ascertained by frequent visits from London, is the most efficient man to forcibly express the views of the Dominion shareholders at the annual meeting of the company, and would bring to the Board the knowledge obtained first hand —in that respect superior to any of the appointees to the ’Waihi Board in the past. The committee also has pleasure in announcing that it has secured the consent of Mr Arthur E. G. Rhodes, solicitor, of Christchurch, and formerly member of the New Zealand Parliament, who proceeds to London on 24th inst, > for a lengthy residence, to be nominated for a seat on the London Board of Directors, as Mr Topham’s colleague, with whom he has, at our request, conferred. He has the hearty support of all shareholders throughout his district, and, we believe, throughout the Dominion. We desire to take this opportunity of thanking shareholders for so gratifying a response to our call for proxies, and will take good care that their proxies are in good hands. We, and large shareholders who have signed the circular Issued by the Committee are convinced that the investigations asked for by the shareholders at meetings throughout . the Dominion, will be more drastic and searching if carried out by a new Board than by the present management, and we trust that shareholders will continue to send us their proxies if they have not already done so, so as to secure thorough and impartial investigation. Yours faithfully,—Waihi Shareholders Committee, Wellington, 15th March, 1911.”