THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 32, 22 June 1877, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1877.

Ik our last issue we made some reference to the Defiance Company and the market quotation of its scrip, and for this we Have, in consequence, been takeii rather rudely to task by the Berald. The old bug-bear of "personal animosity " ia of course trotted oat once more to the rescue, and the result is we are " gone for " in anything bat sparing terms. Now, the basis of this wrathful outpour is as follows j In Tuesday's issue of the paper referred to a rose*tmted para" graph appeared in reference to a discovery in the Defiance mine. It waa Ttherein broadly stated that the stone discovered was quite, equal in ' richness to the Golden Fleece reef, &c., Ac, and finally that scrip in the 1 Company was quoted at 5s 6d. Upon making enquiries at 9.20 o'clock on Tuesday morning we could not ascertain that a single transaction in the shares had taken place, and the quotation given to us in respect to the scrip was Is -CM* Upon this, we deemed it oar obvious duty to make these facts known to thepablio in unmistakable terms. We did so, and were, in part, guided in our conduct by the following circumstances v—The ground now held by the Defiance was formerly within the lease of the Band of Hops Company/ The unfortunate fate of that undertaking is well-known. After expending some thousands of pounds in the execution of costly prospecting work, and in the erection of machinery, the company finally collapsed, was thrown into compulsory liquidation, and scattered blue ruin generally amongst those whose fortunes bad been linked with it. Ultimately the ground waa applied for by the Defiance Com* pany, and prospecting operations commenau'rate with the resources of that company were commenced. For a long time shares in the venture had no marketable value ; in fact, had been forfeited for nonpayment of calls, and, in short, given away for nothing. Early in the week a report was circulated that stone bad been struck in the company's shaft. Nothing definite was known in relation to the discovery, at leant by outsiders, and upon the ! top of this report came a paragraph in glowing colors painting the stone in the most dazzling light. Unfortunately, it may be, perhaps, for ourselves, but certainly not; for our subscribers and the public, we are not shareholders in the company, and, therefore, could not be said to hare had any selfish interest in unjustly decrying the value of its property— save, indeed, the one which has been ingeniously aug* gested— that " Raw bead and Bloody Bones " of our contemporary—" pern sonal animosity/ However, in this situation of affairs, and in the absence of sorer grounds, we sought to place

the* public upon its guard, and if tbe indignation of our contemporary means anything, it means that we succeeded in doing so, and this is, at all events, a source of satisfaction* In order to show the full extent of our desire in the matter) it may be stated thai oil the day previous to the publication of our paragraph the mining reporter of this paper had arranged to visit the mine for the purpose of reporting upon it, and this fact will at all events go to upset the imputation thrown out. As to the charge of "falsehood and conspiracy " referred to, we had no desire or intention whatever of associating the directors of the company '• in com* plicity " with " the proprietors of this journal "-—we should be sorry to do so ; we referred merely to a particular paragraph, and we do not think our language upon the occasion was at all ambiguous upon that head. The over enthusiastic gush of a shareholder who happens to have access to the columns of a newspaper is one thing, but the value of a mine and the integrity of a body of directors is quite another, and if the former is not to be open to attack without impeachment of the latter, then we weep for the peculiar phase of journalism thus disclosed. As we have already said, the conductor of this holds no mining shares, deeming it quite inconsistent with his position to do so, and as people have a knack of always looking to motives, tbe public will be able to appreciate to the utmost the information occasionally vouchsafed by a newspaper the conductors of .which are by their own showing " large shareholders." We have no desire to re« N taliate in the same strain aa that adopted towards us; if we had we might be induced to offer some rather unpleasant suggestions in relation to the possible ultimate fate of some of these vast possessions. Sufficient, however, of that. This hurly-burly of " personal animosity " which is stalked out so frequently, against us, we thought we had heard the last ef, For our own part, we may take this opportunity of stating thtft we have no personal animosties to gratify, but as we are here as the representatives of a large body of constituents, not only local, but scattered, throughout the Colony, we cannot be turned from a sense of duty by any sentimental considerations- That this course is likely to bring us occasionally into conflict with those here who have "other fish to fry " is only to be expected, and to the consequences of which we make our cordial bow.