PERSEVERANCE COMPANY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 216, 12 September 1871, Page 2

PERSEVERANCE COMPANY.

To THE EDITOK OP THE NELSON EVENING- MAIL. Sir — I send you for publication, and the information of the shareholders in the Perseverance Company, a 1 few showing the total quantity of quartz crushed at the Company's battery up to the present date, and of the gold produced from it. As the ten additional head of stamps have now been ordered from Melbourne, these figures will' enable shareholders to form an estimate of the value of the mine, and of the amount of dividends likely to be received. Tons Oz. dwt. gr. Crushed to 15th Dec. last J517 yield 828 0 0 „ „ 15th June last) 188 „ 62 17 12 „ ' „ „ » J 69 „ 18 10 0 „ in current $ year) 432 „ 145 0 0 „ tothi3flate > 252 „ 301 14 0 . » „ 3 261 „ 74 10 0 Totals 2719 ' 1430 11 12 Being an average per ton of lOdwt. 12£grs. "With twenty head of stamps instead of ten, 250 tons per week might be crushed, or in the year, 13,000 tons. At the above average, the yield would be 68380z5., which at <£3 15s 9d an ounce would be ... ... » ... ... £25,818 Total working and other expense say 10,898 Net profit ... ... „. £15,000 Or on the 4000 shares, £3 15s per share. In putting down the expenses at £10,868, I have , reckoned the cost of stoping the quartz at the price now being paid, namely, ten shillioga per ton, but it is not unlikely that the late cob tract price of 7s. 3d. per ton, or something approaching that rate will shortly be renewed, in which case the expenses would be largely reduced. : ; •''■• lam sure that my figures as regards facts cannot be challenged, and {that the amount I have put down for working expenses is an over estimate. I am, of course, aware that these figures differ most materially from those which; appear in the calculations of the Directors in their half-yearly report, but I am prepared to prove, if called .upon, to do so;; in? a few lines, -how. absurdly incorrect aod.;, unreliable Jhose calculations, are. . , -. , . : - If the same yield per ton be : maintained —and it is more than probable that the reef .wjll increase in richness at a greater depth — a dividend ought shortly to be - made, although it must be borne in mind that v £i00() of the 'purchase tapwy 'of:'p^' mine;' and £885 th^ "cost' of the • " new ' water ■ supply,"; ha's} by agreement to be paid-out of the profits ; the latter amount not necessarily !a?£lbttik'bf Mrßilfyrofitß^ although the Directors' wduld be justified in the(terms;of; the agreement ia bo taking it, The prospect of a dividend is, however

more remote, if (the Directors place to the debjU^of profit abd loss, the whole cost of 'the^foinzejf oh " dri're " for opening up ihei mine^ifor Iwhich ; thej~; hpw - invite tenders, Im^l adhere* 'to accounts produced to the shareholders at the last half-yearly meeting which placed the whole cost, during the half year, of making the No. 3 drive and the cost of gettiug out quartz, to the debit of profit and loss, "and made no estimate of, or allowance whatever for the value of quartz on hand, or of the Btock on hand of working materials. The last half-yearly account produced to the shareholders, shows a loss on the total operations of the company of £2688, but if these accounts had been made out on the same principle, consistently, the liabilities would have been included, also the £1000, part of the purchase money of the mine (agreed to be paid out of the profits), and they would have shown a loss of £4005. I am perfectly sure that had the accounts been made out by one experienced in the accounts of public companies and of mercantile concerns, they would have been made to show at that date a profit instead of a loss of over £4000. I am, &c, H. E. Cubtis. Nelson, 11th September, 1871.