The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

Dunstan Times, Issue 659, 4 December 1874, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

BeneaththelluieofMenstruum just the putt is mightier than theawem

Tiie directors ot the Deep Lead Quartz Mining Company have made themselves rather notorious by refusing to allot the six thousand shares disposed of by Mr Thomas Logan in Dunedin. From the fame of the Cromwell Company, and the exhibition ot the twelve hundred ounce cake of gold, the produce of that celebrated claim, it was not to be wondered but that the shares in the new company would go off freely. Such was the case, and enthusiastic investors are naturally much annoyed that what they have subscribed for the local directors refuse to allot. Such a breach of faith at a time when it is so desirable that mutual confidenceshould exist between the miners and capitalists has a most damaging effect upon mining interests in general, and it looks something like saying to the Dunedin public—When we have a bad thing we want your assistance, and will give you a share ; but when the venture is a promising one and there is every prospect of success we desire to appropriate everything to ourselves as being much too good for outsiders. That the six thousand shares, the number alloted for sale in Dunedin, and placed in Mr Logan’s hand to bo kept specially reserved for intending shareholders there, not to be otherwise appropriated until the receipt of a telegram from that gentleman that they were unsaleable, the non-receipt of which caused the local directors to allot them to Cromwell applicants is but a very lame excuse for such conduct. .Nothing was more easy than for the directors to telegraph to Mr Logan, requesting an answer. They must have known that his whereabouts could have been easily and quickly ascertained, and any doubts of a sale or no sale set at rest. The deluded wouldbe Dunedin shareholders express a decided determination of not being so pliant as the Cromwell directors would have them, and we should not be surprised to find that, if the Cromwell directors refuse to disgorge that the law will bo invoked to step in and make them. Legal proceedings are threatened, and we feel assured that a prospecting drive by the lawyers, into their pockets, will be almost as expensive as the drive they premeditate putting into the Bendigo hills to discover the possible whereabouts of supposed quartz reefs. ; For the honor of Cromwell and the district at large, let us hope that this ugly matter will be satisfactorily cleared up. So very much depends upon the application of outside capital to develop our mineral resources, and it is impossible that this can bo secured unless a mutual confidence exists. The establishment of such companies as the Cromwell Deep Lead Company has been success fully carried out in Victoria, and has led to highly beneficial results. In the present case we have a moat excellent beginning, and wdiilo everything promised so well, ultimate results have been seriously' marred by a little stupidity on the part of the local management, and which savors very strongly of something like an attempt at overreaching.