NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5699, 19 October 1896, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON.

[From Our Correspondent.] LONDON, Sept. 5/ The sanguine anticipations of certain people that the boom in New Zealand! mines would synchronise with the advent of partridge shooting shows no sign of being realised yet awhile. People generally indeed are, if anything, just a little dubious as to the immediate future, and even the' optimistic do not regard the outlook as a particularly rosy one. The break up in the weather, which seeniß pretty . general, may drive back holidaymakers to town a little earlier in the month,, but Ido not look forward to any particttlar revival in mining until the equinox is overpast, even if the attitude of the Powers towards "Abdul the Damned" produces no European unpleasantness. A thing which may tend.to keep New Zealand shares frora being properly appreciated by the publl? is tHe growing impression that many of the mines recently floated have, like the Jubilee, gone to work with too small working capitals. It is all very well for directors at statutory meetings to enlarge upon (in the absence of inoro important information) the cheapness with which mining can be done in New Zealand, but in the face of the Jubilee fiasco, the general public will be disinclined to swallow all they are told. Besides, it is not unnatural that the thoughtful investor should ruminate thus : " Why, if mining is so cheap, and if the gold can be so easily got at by means of inexpensive adits, 'do the colonists find it absolutely necessary to come Home for money to work their mines?" As soon as a few ,more mines begin to pay dividends, these little doubts and fears will die away, but until then the ups and downß of the market will be merely the result of jobbers' manipulations not the outcome of the public'sspeculations. So small indeed is the public interest in New Zealand mines at present, that the hona fide outside subscriptions to new issues very rarely cover the cash consideration paid by the promoters to the original vendors. This has been the case for" months past with but very few exceptions and it will be so for a long time to come.Under these circumstances, it is folly for New Zealanders to ask large cash consider' ations when attempting to sell properties.They must be content with shares and a very small amount of ready money. I have insisted on this point times without number, but apparently the effect one desired has not been produced. I know of two properties which were put into the hands of a reliable London agent for Bale. He could have placed both in a good quarter, but for the fact that the vendors insisted on =23000 cash in each case, whereas the possible buyers could not see their way to give more than ,£IOOO. Another point I must' once again try to drive home is that it is utterly useless to ask agents at Home to dispose of mines without the most complete papers relating thereto. Only the other day a well-known Auckland gentleman received from a friend a cable to this effect :— " Offer— for ten dayß, cash £ ." The only paper relating to the mine in the hands of the London man was a small map showing the position of the mine in relation to several other mines unknown to us by name at this side. Another Aucklander cabled to his agent in this wise : — " Offer option to Sept. 11 ; plans, reports by mail." Now in this case the mail could not reach London until Sept. 10, so the New Zealander apparently imagined his agent could do business on the strength of the cable alone. It seems to me indeed, from the fashion in which some colonists interested in mines try to do biißineßS, that they imagino the London promoter to be a. queer compound of cunning rogue and absolute fool. There are some vory queer fish amongst tho promoting fraternity, but Company-mongering offers no scope for fools. MS m'CULLOUGH RETURNS. Any Aucklander desirous of learning a few solid and sordid facts about the sale and promotion of New Zealand mines in London cannot do bettor than to get speech, with the Hon William McGullough, who returns to the colony by the Tongariro, sailing from London a fortnight hence. He has been at Homo for some months endeavouring to turn certain properties into limited liability companies, and "knows just a thing or two." Ho cannot be classed among the lucky venturers from the colony as represented by \lv Joseph Howard Witheford, nor can he bo placed in tho category of unfortunates as rei^resented by— no, I won't give the name, but I refer to the gentleman who fell in with a particularly " strong crowd"three days after landing, and who is, at the present, within reasonable distance of " Stone Broke Alley." Mr M'Cullough is. one of those who have achieved a modicum of success at infinite expense, physically and financially. He has succeeded in placing one big thing, viz., the Waitekauri Union claims, which will bo floated sometime this autumn with, a capital of £300,000 and will start work with .£70,000 working capital. He has also arranged for the sale of other properties on favourable terms. He has, indeed, succeeded in doing that which liecame Home to do, but in his own words it has been " an awful trouble " and his experiences have been such as to bring him. to vow that he will never come here again' on the same errand. There is, he says, money to be made at the game, but the anxiety and worry are such as to make ifc hardly worth the candle.