THE PIONEER STEEL COMPANY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 971, 30 March 1870, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE PIONEER STEEL COMPANY.

We are informed that an arrangement has been come to between the promoters of the Pioneer Steel Company and the unpaid up shareholders, which will tend to do away with the hostile feeling that has lately existed between them. The promotei'S have agreed to hand over a certain number of paid up shares, to be given to the unpaid up shareholders in satistaction of the amount they shall have paid in calls, in the following proportion : — One paid up share for every £5 paid in calls ; and where there is a balance, one paid up share where such balance amounts to £2 10s. or upwards. Holders of single shares to receive a paid up share. By this arrangement all who accede to it will become paid up shareholders ; and in furtherance of ifc the directors have issued notices, that those shareholders who do not pay the amount now due before the 12th instant, will have their shares forfeited, and thns be relieved from further responsibility beyond the payment of the call lately made. The only proviso made by the promoters is, that after the shares have been forfeited, the amount of the call now due shall be paid before the 28th May next, to enable a shareholder to receive paid up shares. We understand that an endeavour will be made to get up a Company in England, with a capital of at least £100,000 ; the directors being convinced from past experience that it is useless to attempt to carry on the undertaking without obtaining the requisite plant from England, and the services of practical men to carry on the works. Sufficient results have been obtained to satisfy those who have taken the greatest interest in the undertaking that, with proper furnaces and efficient workmen, there is no real difficulty in smelting the sand ; but in order that persons may judge for themselves, samples of the sand made up into bricks mixed with clay, as used at the Company's works, and also in its pure state, and small bars of the metal smelted in crucibles, together with all information as to the cost of charcoal and rate of wages here, will be furnished to the agent in England entrusted with bringing the project to the notice of capitalists there. The probable cost of production, and the value of the metal can thus be ascertained, and as all doubt about the lease of the beach has been set at rest by his Excellency the Governor's assent to the Ordinance, and the lease itself will be in the hands of the Company before the departure of the mail for England, there is every probability that a strong Company will be formed to carry on the works, if a satisfactory conclusion is arrived at that the iron can be produced at a paying price ; and of this we have no doubt, from all the information we can gather. — Taranahl Herald, March 9. j