THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1875.

Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2079, 8 April 1875, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1875.

GRUMBLiura is one of the glorious privileges of a Briton, and it appears that at a meeting of the Dunedin shareholders in the Greymouth Coal Company, some discontented investors indulged themselves in a growl against the management of the undertaking. Possibly the complaints came from those persons as to whom it has required a little legal pressure to induce them to pay up their calls— a responsibility which it would seem they had failed to recognise as a concomitant of their position as shareholders. Whether it is that these gentlemen have no higher commercial instincts than the "small profits and quick returns " of the grocer's counter, or that they are ignorant of the delays and difficulties which always attend the initiation of large mining undertakings, it is certain that they have made a complaint quite unjustified by facts, which anyone could ascertain did he take the trouble. It is perfectly true that the mine of the Greymouth Company has not yet produced a dividend, and indeed it would be a wonderful thing if even under the most favorable circumstances it could have done so in the short time during which the Company has been in operation. Everything had to be commenced. It took much negotiation before the Company secured the undoubtedly highly favorable concession it obtained from the General Government by the efforts of the Greymouth promoters. The ground had to be tested in order to enable the Company to select its area, and fix upon the first Bite of its operations. Then came the purchase of machinery, the sinking of the shaft, the construction of appliances for conveying the coal to the river, the building of barges, and doing the thousand and one things which are necessary in the first stages of such an enterprise. The Directors secured firstclass machinery at a cost infinitely below ordinary prices, the shaft and all the accessories have been completed in a highly satisfactory manner ; the fact of a large seam of coaFbf first-class quality has been established, and everything has been done to make the mine as profitable as it could be in its infant stage. The only thing that stands in the way, and which has for some time stood in the way of active and profitable operations, is the want of sufficient means for conveying the coal to the port. The railway, upon which the success of this and the Brunner Mine almost entirely depends, is not yet completed, although, according to the assurances of the Government, it should have been open months ago. Once that desideratum is supplied, the mine of the Greymouth Company will be in a position to supply coal at a low but profitable price in sufficient quantity to meet any probable demand. The mine and machinery are in first-class order, managed by a gentleman of great practical experience, and the affairs of the Company are under the control of a Board of Directors who have been most industrious and painstaking in advancing the interests of the shareholders. The complaint of mismanagement is an utterly unjustified one, and one that the Dunedin shareholders have no right to make. No doubt it is not pleasant for shareholders to have to pay calls instead of having to receive dividends, but the unpleasantness falls quite as heavily upon the local Directory and shareholders as upon others. . The Directory is composed of gentlemen each holding a large number of shares, most of them being the heaviest holders in the Company. The Directors are unpaid, although they devote a great deal of time and attention to the affairs of the Company, and although they have to pay their calls like other people, they are quite satisfied as to the future value of the property of the shareholders. All the facts we have alluded to are indisputable, are quite ; within the knowledge of the Dunedin shareholders, or of most of them, and we are inclined to think that some secret underhand influence has been at work to prejudice the Company. Not many months ago the writer of these lines was asked in Dunedin whether it was true that the mine was a failure, that there was no coal, and so on, and only a short time since a Dunedin visitor, who happened to be

in Greymouth, but who had not at that time visited the mine, said to him "we hear you have got nothing but stones and rubbish." He afterwards visited the mine, and expressed his great satisfaction with what he had seen. We have heard persons in Greymouth, who know nothing whatever of the subject, deliver ex catliedra opinions that " the shaft was in the wrong place;" that " the mine would soon be worked out," and it may be that intentionally and maliciously, or otherwise, similar damaging reports have reached the ears of the Dunedin shareholders. It is enough that we can give a most complete contradiction to them. The mine is a splendid property, has been efficiently and economically managed, and only awaits the completion of the railway to rapidly become exceedingly profitable.