HARTLEY AND RILEY DREDGING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 29

HARTLEY AND RILEY DREDGING COMPANY.

The annual meeting of the Hartley and Riley Beach Dredging Company was held on Friday afternoon. There was a fairlylarge attendance of shareholders, and the Hon. Thomas Fergus (chairman of directors) presided. In moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet the Chairman said tha* the shareholders had every reason to bs satisfied with the position of the company — more especially when they found that a great many of the companies that were floated about the same time as the .Hartley and Riley Company had completely disappeared, many of them, in his opinion, on account of bad financing. They spent the whole of their funds; and when there came a time of stress they h*d no reserve to draw upon. The directors of - their company, however, when big dividends were being paid, had taken the precaution of putting aside a email proportion of the funds for contingencies. Unfortunately they had had to draw considerably on those reserves later on; since then the directors had deemed it wise to increase their reserve fund to what it was originally, so that if any unforeseen* accident overtook the dredge they would be in a position to get another one. The directors had. aleo obtained another stretch of river ground, on which it was proposed to operate later on. They bad found, also, that the ground below the dredge had not been thoroughly tested, end they were in hopes of* working there also presently. None of the old claim had been as yet abandoned, but the probabilities were, if it was found that the ground below them justified it, that a portion would bo discarded. The total area of the claim at present was about 80 acres. The motion was seconded by ; Mr J- C. Short and carried. The retiring directors (the Hon. Thomas Fergus and Mr Thomas Brown) were reelected.

Mr A. G. .Fenwick was reappointed auditor. The Chairman stated that he proposed to proceed to Cromwell on the following day to consult with the dredgemaster (Mr Scott) in re the policy to be pursued during the forthcoming summer. He had hopes of a very successful year. On -the motion of Mr Finch the meeting accorded the chairman, the secretary, the. dredgemaster, and the directors a hearty vote of thanks for their work during the past year.

A NEW COMPANY.

Mr G. A. Harlow has recently, on behalf of c. new company, to be Known as the .• Karaunui Gold Dredging Company, acquired the whole of the assets of the Alexandra Lead Company for the sum of £3150. It is proposed to Boat the Karaunui Company as a. limited liability concern with a capital of 5500 shaers of £1 each. The vendor has agred to take 2100 of these fully paid up in lieu of cash, and the balance of £1000 due to him is to be paid in instalments spread over six months. Mr Harlow, also, is accepting for his commission 200 shares in place of cash payment. It is provided that no fully-paid-up shares can be sold until a dividend has been declared, and thus it .will be seen that their value is wholly dependent on the success of the company. On the whole capital of £5500 there is only a loading of 50 fully-paid-up shares to the vendor, and it is confidently stated that successful dredging can be commenced 12 hours after operations have started. As the ground already worked can be given up and fresh ground ahead of the present claim applied for, the life pi €he company should last for a number of years. The name '* Karau-nui " has been chosen as the Maori equivalent for " big dredge."

TESTING THE KAWARAU FiJSJuu

The official report of Mr James Horn,' Cromwell director of the Electric Company, on the operations of the Keystone borer Ifrom the company's No. 2 dredge was considered by the other directors yesterday. ;We _ have been permitted to make the following extracts from Mr Horn's report: — "After we put down the first bore I decided to put down a second nearer the head of the Electric claim. The suction on the pipes was so great that it was very difficult to get them started— in fact, they broke the top pipe, fortunately above the waterline, and this decided me to grive the matter best, and do no more. I should have liked to have had a hole put down

between Cornish Beach and Pipeclay Creek and another about 400 yds above Cornish Beach, but ther.e was no hope of getting either of the dredges there owing to the low state of the river. I am satisfied now that the clay is of groat thickness below the river-bed to the bedrock."