GOLD FROM LAVA.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18641, 20 May 1932, Page 3

GOLD FROM LAVA.

GREAT POSSIBILITIES.

TiA SCIENTIST’S PROGNOSTICATIONS S WORKING BEHIND LOCKED DOORS Income tax at a shilling in the pound! The National Debt and our enormous debt to the United States, paid it off in one instalment! n with these desirable objects in .- view a London factory is working day is and night on one of the most romand | tic commercial ventures of modern if I times, rivalling the claims of the oldo I time alchemists. it j The prosaic suburb qf Southall, ] Middlesex, is the setting for this ren j markable enterprise. In Scotts Road e is a mysterious red brick building d which covers some four acres. Those of its windows which can be overe looked from neighbouring premises e are painted over. s Inside, a German chemist, Charles i Gladitz, and his staff are engaged on c tho task of trying to extract gold from o thousands of tons of lava, a r The Wizard Optlmtstlo. When I called at the factory the " staff was working behind locked doors, writes a ‘‘Daily Express” representative. Occasionally I caught , glimpses of silent, white-coated men dodging from one building to another. Rut I was able to talk with the lava wizard himself. Mr Gladitz is a I tall, well-built man about sixty-five , years of age. He speaks excellent ' English. He has lived in England „ about twenty years, but is not yet naturalised. Four years of research, and the treatment of thousands of tons of lava by his secret process, have failed so I far to produce gold, or any other pre- : cious metal, at economic rates. But, 1 like all pioneers, Mr Gladitz is opti- ’ mistio. “Every ounce of gold turned out from the factory,” he said, "Is to go to the Treasury, with the stipulation that it must be used for the benefit of the country and every individual Briton by reducing the National Debt and income tax. I will make sure that it benefits the entire British people, singly and collectively.” At the present juncture the island of Ascension, off the ccast of Africa, appears to he the chief beneficiary under the scheme. It is from here that the lava is being shipped to England. Mr Gladitz obtained his import concession from the Colonial Office through the St. Helena Colony Development Company, of which he Is chairman. fi’he concession, which accorded the company the exclusive rights for twenty-five years, also carries the option of an extension for another twenty-five years. It was granted in 1927 and became operative in 1928. The price of the lava is about £1 per ton, and so far 2000 tons have been sent to Southall. Naturally Mr Gladitz is secretive in regard to his methods. But he said thL» much;— Theory of Emanations. “My theory is that of amanations, I did not know anything about chemistry until I was forty-three years of age. “I believe that every body or substance emanates an impulse, which, if we have delicate enough instruments to detect, can readly be discovered and located. My researches are directed to locating emanations of precious substances in base metals. “I have long held the belief that it was possible for a preoious metal to be contained in a base substance and yet bo invisible even under the strongest j-nicroscopic lens.” Mr Gladitz hinted that there are shareholders in the company, of which lie is chairman, who are very Important personages and who wish to remain incognito. The business is registered at Somerset House as the New Process Company. Plates bearing this name are nailed to the gates and the office door of the laboratories. The company is a private one, with a nominal capital of £120,000, divided into 20,000 preference shares of £1 and 2,000,000 ordinary shares of Is. All the preference shares have been issued, .but, so far, only 1,750,000 of the ordinaries. Mr Charles Gladitz owns 3500 preference shares and 712,111 ordinary shares. His son, Waiter Joseph Gladitz, who is associated with him, owns. S-i, 140 ordinaries, and under the entry of "Gladitz and Hohs, W. J. and F. C., of The Green, Heston,” is credited with 450 preference and 37,224 ordinary shares. The Gladitz family between them own 3950 preference and 833,475 ordinaries. An Interesting History. The company has an Interesting history, it was incorporated on March 27, 1913, with a capital of £6OOO in 6000 ordinary shares of £l. The objects were comprehensive. It could establish companies and associations for (lie prosecution of undertakings, works, projects or enterprises of airy description, whether of a public or privato character, in England or elsewhere, and acquire and dispose of shares and interests in such companies and associations. On February 7, J92S, the capital was increased by the issue of 10,000 cumulative preference sharos of £i each and SO,OOO ordinary shares of Is each. On April 23 of ihe same year it was again increased, this time by the issue, of 10,000 8 per cent, cumulative preference shares of £l.

On February .16, .1929, it was Increased by £65,000, consisting of 1,300,000 ordinary shares at Is. On August 29, 1930, a further increase of £12.500 was authorised in 250,000 ordinary shares of Is, and a similar increase was made on February 9, 1931, to total £120,000.