WHY GOOD CLAIMS DO NOT PAY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 56, 25 February 1870, Page 3

WHY GOOD CLAIMS DO NOT PAY.

Under the above heading, the ' New Zealand Herald' has the following:. —lt is not because there is. a lack of good stone in hundreds of claims that no dividends are paid by them. We. have a noticeable instance of this in one of the best claims at the Thames, when at a late meeting the balance sheet plainly showed the why and the wherefore of their having been no dividend for shareholders. Three hundred and six tons of quartz, the produce of 20 weeks'. Work, had been crushed for 6891 ozs. of gold, which realised some £I4OO. Shareholders had naturally expected that a dividend would be forthcoming, bnt the per; contra account explained all. Each ton of, quartz cost in labor to take it from the reef £2 7s. lOd.; other expenses, including carting and crushing, amount to £1 14s. 2d.; inaldng a total cost per ounce of £4 2s. ; A. very small margin is thus lefc for -profit. Now it is manifestly; absurd that quartz, which will give on the average 2ozs. 2dwts. to the ton, should barely pay at the Thames, when, in Australia, from 3 to sdwts per ton will give handsome returns. "What is needed is a thorough reform in the working of claims ; strict attention by directors to the expenditure, that no needless cost, noi^v^steful extravagance goes on, that let by con"tlaalb are bona in their character,' %nd faithfully carried out by "the manager. Too much is left .to legal managers ; the auditing of accounts is made a mere matter of form. » A change, too, must : be effected in'the crushing arrangements ; on the.

-field before shareholders 'can look for profits; £1 l'4iS. 2d! per ton for carting and crushing, charges is, of itself, enough to shut-up hundreds of claims that,should.be'. payable/ ones. Shareholders must-look to, these matters if they would have a : change for the better in results of the Thames Goldfield. Our claims iieed be all Long Drives and ; Golden , Crowns to stand such charges as these.