TUAPEKA MINING NOTES AND "SHAREHOLDER."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 11, 6 July 1888, Page 13

TUAPEKA MINING NOTES AND "SHAREHOLDER."

TO THB BDITOB N. Z. TABLET. Bim.-1 notice in your last issue a letter signed " A Shareholder." reflecting on certain statements made by me regarding the Blue Sou olaims, and attributing what he calls my "depreciatory " remark, to my " political and personal antipathy to Mr. J. C. Brown ." In replying to ■• Shareholder," I will be as brief ai possible, consistently with the circumstances. ' What I said of the Spur claims in my notes wu entirely authentic and my statements were specific. Not so "Shareholder." It is all very w ell to accuse me of recording the " idle ohatter of busy bodies": but will Shareholder ' kindly point out wherein the " idle chatter " is not in accordance with fact 1 I ,? o , n ,\ know who " Shareholder " is, nor do I care; bat it ft a T ! m V\l \ £a fl th * k ,**'• J * C> Brown *»* l ait e » "ttle bodygrard of nnw J ?"-£ tVv> ? lM \ ™ ? hen any d-flnifce ■totement is made in puoho in which their patron's honour is involved, are ever ready to vaguely protest, " It's a lie; it's a *ie." Beyond this they never can to ▼•nture. Ask them wherein the falsehood lies, and not anothtr word will you hear from them; and in this connection does it not seem strange that in the present instance the protest should oome.not as one would naturally expect, from one of the local shareholder* whose every-aay knowledge would entitle him to speak with authority but frosa a person who* resides some sixty miles away, and wko can have no practical knowledge of what he is talking about v,i m . v S? 0^ PebruMV lMt » « correspondent signing himself "One Who Knows," in a letter to the Daily fame? made certain specific statements regarding Mr. Brown and bis eon' nection with the Blue Spur. The same thing happened then as now. A few ot the body-guard (" Shareholder," I believe, among the number) rushed into print with the old story : " It's a lie I It's a lie !■• But I have not heard that they have since taken any steps to bring: the "liar to justice. Mr. Brown, wisely, tried to get the newspapers to take up his cause, bnt be was wise enough not to rush into print nimselt on the subject. • i u It u i - 8 »? re l baa P aßßir ß strange that those immediately connected with this Bine Spur business should be so anxious to make-it tabu in the eyes of the public. If it is all that it was represented to be, surely they cannot dread the few words of " idle chatter " which I or anybo 'y else may say abont it. The conclusion one naturally comes to nnder the circumstances is that the affairs of the Blue Spur will not stand prying into. That I was justified in speaking of the Blue Spur mines in a depreciatory manner, I will venture to prove. When the concern was placed on the market at Home, the intending shareholders were told in the prospectus that " the working expenses should not be more than £100 per week, thus leaving a profit of over £1000 per week, or say £50,000 per annum, rut profit from working the tail. ings for at least eight years to come." That is to say, people who invested their capital in the Blue Spur mines did so on the strength of a representation made by Mr. J. C. Brown and those connected with him that one of the eleven properties comprised in this concern would alone yield a net profit of £50,000 a year ! At the end of the first three months, the returns are about 300 ounce! of gold, valued at, say £1,100, and it is an open secret that the working and other expenses for the same period are pretty well doable that amount. Where is the £50,000 net proit to oome from ? But thw is not all. This £50,000 referred to is to come from the tailings alone, but m addition to this, of the eight cement claims, it is said the average profit, £24,700, paid as dividends during the past ten years, may be taken as the minimum annual future net profit from all arCe mv brings us up to an estimated annual net profit of £74,700. These figures, I think, are sufficient to prove my case. If Shareholder wants any furthur information, I'll be most happy to accommodate him. I scarcely think he will. Perhaps it might interest " Shareholder "to know that I too am a shareholder. I bought my shares and paid cash for them. Might laak " Shareholder " how he got his ?— I am, etc, Youb Occasional Corbhifondbnt.