UPPER MAGNETIC GOLD DREDGING

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4892, 18 September 1901, Page 2

UPPER MAGNETIC GOLD DREDGING

COMPANY. - Ao vatraoraiuary general meeliog of tbe above company was held io Dunedin on Monday, to consider the question of going into liquidation. Eighteen Bhareboldera Were prebent, Mr Jas. Brown presiding. The Chaum*a, in explaining the reason of the meeting and the position the affairs of the company stood in, said they were there assembled in consequence of a resolution

carried at their last meeting that opportunity should be given to shareholders to fiod £1,200 worth of debentures, in order to give the company ft chance ol testing Us e)*hn more folly. That opportunity had been afforded the shareholders, bat with results not successful. The amount subscribed by shareholders amounted to something under £400. As this sum was altogether oat of the question, and as it seemed hopeless for the direo tors to raise any more money, the meeting bad beta called. The oompany was now Id a very critical position. They had a dredge on a claim which was admitted to be a failure. The larger portion of the olaim had. been worked, with results disappointing in the extreme. About £600 was owing to the bank, which held a mortgage over the dredge. The bank had intimated to the directors, who had guaranteed the company's indebtedness, that they wanted the money, and, failing the oompany making immediate payment, they intend* d calling on the directors for it. This, as they would admit, was not a very plf asant position for the direotors to be in. The directors themselves oould see no way out of the difficulty, and they would be only too glad if any of the shareholders oould indicate one. Sinoe last meeting some proposals had been made to them by » syndicate owning the Annie Queen claim. The syndicate , made proposals to work the Upp r r Magnetic dredge on tribute. As the proposals, however, in no way provided for the present indebtedness of the oompany the direotors oould not Bee their way to entertain them at all. He was not quite sure, even if the company was in a good financial position, whether ibey oonld arrange to^coept the proposals on their present lines. In effect, the proposals meant ibat the syndicate should work the dredge, and alter working expenses had been provided tot the remainder of the gold was .to be divided between the tributes and the oompany. As he had said, the proposals did not hejp them to get over the difficulty with , their present liabilities. Payment to the bank most be made at onoe, and if that was not done, and the bank should foreclose, the direotors would have *o sell the dredge, aod, as he should imagine, at a sacrifice. The directors, under the circumstances, felt justified in calling the shareholders together and . in patting the proposals for liquidation before them. If anyone present had any suggestion to make as to any course of action that might avert the doom that seemed to await the oompany, they would be glad to hear it. At a later stage he would move that the oompany go into liquidation. In reply to a question. The Chairman said he was satisfied the dredge could bottom. The ladder oould dredge to a depth of 50ft aod the dredgemaster reported he had bottomed over twothirds of the okim, the other third had not been tried. It was at the lower end, and was admittedly deep. Those who knew the place considered that even if gold was there at all It'cpuld only be worked when the river was very low. I Mr $hom»s6t> Lamb .- It tbo claim has Keen proved ueeleos, what is the object of Uprising money on debentures ? :> The Chairman said that at the last meeting he asked that question himself. The ' claim had been prospected and proved worthless. However, other shareholders then thought differently from him. He had no hope of the debentures from the sta.it. Mr Solomon said a great many of the looal shareholders thought that the claim had not been properly tested. This they maintained in spite of what the dredgemaster reported. After some further disoussion as to whether the claim had been properly tested, Mr Harman Beeves suggested that a substantial increase should be made in the interest offered to debenture holders. If this were done he believed £1000 could be raised. He would, in fact, guarantee to get the debentar«s taten ap. They could then pay off tQQ banlc, have the dredge in foeir OWd bands, and if the claim still proved unpayable the shareholders would be in no worse position than now, while the debenture-holders would get the dredge. The motion " That the company go into liquidation" was then put and lost, an n Amendment proposed by Mr Solomon to the g effect the the meeting be adjourned for a j. fortnight to allow the directors time to make rj a further effort to pay off the mortgage was \ put, and carried unanimously.

Following are tbe returns for the week 1 ended Monday, 16th instant : — I

At the trial ran of the Gold Depoßtt dredge on the 11th inst. everything went well, and dredging was expected to start, on Monday llßti The Meg and Annie did not wash up last week, neither did the Endeavor. The Magnetio's line of backets parted at the end of the week, bnt no trouble was anticipated in getting it fixed again. The attention of those well versed in the technicalities of bydraulioing and dredging .and with a good practical experience is directed to an advertisement inserted in this • issue by Messrs A. and T. Bart. The Champion Gold Dredging Co. obtained 14oz. 2dwt. 14gr. for laßfc week's work. .The Happy Valley return last week was not. so large as was expected owing to striking a big patch of worked ground. The ground la heavy and averages 12fc to 14ft deep. ~ Last week 65 dredges reported a total yield of 2,0190z 2dwt 19gr, an average of Sloz per dredge. j The " Daily Times'," Cromwell correspondent - Hires : — " The Junction Electric dredges were both troubled with the drift ' last week. The Alpine Consols return was hardly *s good M vr*a expected, but broken time' interfered a lot with it. The Royal MawUis to have a trial run this week. The Galvanic is supposed to start work on Tuesday ;at least, a orew has gone up. If this dredge gets a bit higher up her claim I think returns will follow." The Alexandra correspondent of the "Daily Times" wired on Monday night:— "The Molyneux ro6e on Saturday afternoon and evening, and fell again yesterday, but is again on the rise. It is raining heavily locally. The river is about 4ft 6in above normal mark." A dividend of 8d per share on the ordinary shares in the Blue Spur Consolidated Company arrived by the English mail on Saturday. „ The pontoons of the Buby Gold Dredging Company were successfully launched on Mbndkj afternoon. A dividend (the second) of Is per share has been declared by the Golden Cresoent Sluicing Co.

Oz dwt gr Electric HI 16 0 Cromwell 154 9 0 Golden Gate 76 15 0 Clyde 72 0 0 Monte Chriato ... ... 67 6 0 Electric Extended ... ... 58 5 0 Junction Electric 55 0 0 Earnsoleugh No. 2 51 2 0 Otaxo ... ... ... ». so la o BHajertio ... 4815 o Perseverance No. 2 ... ... 43 5 6 Perseverance No. 1 ... ... 41 15 0 Empire (2 dredges) ... ... 38 14 0 Molyneux Hydraulic ... ... 39 8 0 Hartley and Biley 36 16 0 Golden Bun 35 2 0 Golden Beach 34 12 4 Naumai 34 2 0 Waimumu Central ... ... 31 1 0 Waimumn Extended ... ... 33 4 0 Golden Gravel 33 0 0 Vincent Extended 33 0 0 Alpine Consols 32 0 18 Magnetic ... ... ... 32 0 0 Gold Queen 31 2 0 Olrig 30 19 12 Waimumu 30 6 0 Cbarlton Creek 30 0 0 Matau ... ... ... ... 30 0 0 Central Cbarlton 28 13 0 Success 88 3 12 Earnscleugh No. 1 27 1 18 Sailors Bend 27 0 0 Reliance 25 10 6 Central Mataura 22 15 0 ' Long Valley ... ... ... 21 0 0 Enterprise No. 1 19 17 0 Manttherikfe 19 14 0 Golden Bed 18 11 0 Spec Gully « 8 0 Happy Valley 17 15 0 Te&ot... ... 17 14 21 Chicago 17 5 0 Pauls Beach. ... ... „.. 16 18 0 Central Electric 16 0 0 Upper Waipori... 15 15 0 Lawrence ... ... ... J5 5 0 Inch Valley 14 16 0 Second Magnetic 14 12 0 Alpine No. 2 13 0 0 Bannockburn Creek 12 12 0 Unity ... 12 8 0 Inchdale 1117 0 Waikaka Queen 11 10 0 Golden Link 11 7 9 Golden Treasure ... ... 11 6 0 Gabriel 11 1 21 Dunatan Lead 10 0 0 Shepherd's Creek 10 0 0 Lady Charlton 7 18 0 Dunback ... 6 13 0 Great Central 6 10 0 Sixteen-mile Beach 5 It 12 Gibbs Beach 4 6 0 Total 2019 2 19 WEST COAST DREDGES.. Nelson Creek 52 o o Ahftura... ... ... ... 41 1 o Al ... ... ... ... 36 6 o North Beach 25 3 0 Greenstone Creek * ... 23 15 o Three-mile Greenstone ... ... 22 o o Leviathan ... ... ... 15 o o Erickson's Beward 12 2 o Ford's Creek ... 11 o o Gieyßiver 10 3 o Maori Queen ... 10 o o Grey Biver Consolidated ... 7 5 o