PUBLIC MEETING AT THE ODD FELLOWS' HALL.—THE DUN MOUNTAIN COPPER MINING COMPANY.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 120, 14 December 1858, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING AT THE ODD FELLOWS' HALL.—THE DUN MOUNTAIN COPPER MINING COMPANY.

■ ;. This meeting was called together in consequence of an advertisement that appeared in our columns on Tuesday, the 7th instant, at the instance of W. L. Wrey, Esq. D. Sinclair having been.voted to the chair, proceeded to read the adverlteement— Dun Mountain Mining Company (Limited.)-—The Shareholders in the above Compapy, and the public generally, are invited to meet the undersigned at tho Odd Fellows' Hall, Nelson, on Thursday, the 9th instant, at half-past six o'clock, for seven punctually, to take into consideration the report of the proceedings at the half-yearly meeting of the said Company m London, in July last, as reported in the Nelson Examinerof the 24th ultimo. The attendance of the Nelson Committee of Management, and Mr. Hackett likewise, is particularly requested.—W. L. Wrey, Mineral Surveyor. He said, the meeting having been convened by the above, it would, he thought, be only just to give patient consideration to what might transpire, as it appeared from the Keport of the half-yearly meeting in London that there were ' grave charges made against certain parties here. W. L. Wrey, Esq., said that in the report of the London shareholders referred to, there were some wicked and malicious libels, not made in the heat of debate, because there was no. discussion, consequently they bad been deliberately formed, and such as would remain a stigma upon the people of the place if not explained away; and he was glad of the opportunity he had of doing so before such a numerous attendance. This report had been sent by the Committee to the Daily News, and was copied into the Nelson Examiner on the 24th ultimo. A book also had been published, called the 3rd Report, a copy of which he had obtained the day before, by chance, and he considered the circumstance particularly fortunate, as it gave him a better chance of fully illustrating the falsity of their statement. Since 1852 he had sacrificed six years of his life in developing the resources of the Dun Mountain for the benefit of all in the place but himself, for he was a considerable loser in the matter. The book he spoke of had been obtained from Mr. Wells, and should have been sent to all the share* holders. It contained some extraordinary things certainly, and appeared to have been taken from the old leaves of a. publication that appeared about twelve months ago, and some of ■ them were Mr. Hackett's reports. . The work went on to shew that the London shareholders had been the victims of some trickery,—-that they had no doubt of the fraud of Mr. Wrey's representations. The most serious charge was, that the specimens sent borne bad never come from the mine at all. He ;was fortunate on being able to disprove this accusation; the charge did not rest on his (Mr. Wrey's) shoulders alone, for those who see this book will not believe but what all in Nelson are swindlers. It went on to say, "Since the unsatisfactory accounts had been received, they hadn't sold a single share." But it said nothing about the shares bought before and since the bad news. Certainly he knew that Mr. Hackett had never worked the mine, which, according to this book, was " all moonshine;" and as those words were marked as quotations, he« bad no doubt they were Mr. Hackett's own. It also spoke of quicksilver; but up to that evening he (Mr. Wrey) had heard nothing of it. He supposed Mr. Hackett had found a small globule, nnd that was the moonshine spoken of. When a lease was first applied for the Government gave them one square mile:. upon that he issued prospectuses to raise a) fund to meet the preliminary expenses to work the mine. In the meantime he undertook the expenditure himself for three or four months; he also employed Mr. Dobson as surveyor, whose report was favorable as to a road from the, mine. In 1853 he reported that the mine was in operation) and all the form of a company was gone through, although not really legal, as no deed of partnership had been concluded. In March 1854, a contract was made for him to go to London; the time proved inopportune, for the men of war were leaving to go against Russia, and he stayed until September of the same year, arid if be committed fraud in the representations he made, it was shared in by Messrs. Travers, Nicholson, Stafford and others, for they all had the same opinion. Now with respect to this charge of fraud—that the ore never did come from the Dun Mountain—before he returned, operations had been carried on by Messrs. Travers and Wells, and to bis utter astonishment on his return be found people at work, and some considerable quantity of ore ready to be sent away, and it was sent by Mr. Sclanders, who can best say where it came from. Mr. Saunders, the secretary of the London Company, was connected by marriage with Mr. Sclanders and Mr. A. Morrison, of Austin Friars. This family party was present when these statements were made, and yet no denial was given to assertions that must have been known to be untrue. Another singular circumstance was that Mr. Stayner,' shipping agent in London, and one of the directors, was present, yet said nothing, although the ore went home in one of his vessels, the Monsoon. Mr. Stayner also in 1853 sent out prospectuses —why did he take upon himself to form a company and then turn round and say that he had nothing to do with it. They also published a final report he made ah/out finding ore in Windtrap Gully. In. that report he 6aid there were many lodes, and he thought there were twenty; "out of four of them.l send you some magnificent specimens." This : gully was 30 or 40 fathoms high on the hill side, and there had been a land slip, and the ore was staring you in the face for 60 or 70 feet up, but the dangerous state of the ground was such that he told. tho men to leave off. Before they would do so, however, they with long poles knocked off about two.tons; he afterwards set them to work 10 fathoms lower. We worked on till July, when wa

iutd"orders froniEnglaud tostop operations, and the consequence is that the ground has given way since, and the ore is covered up, although since various gentlemen have picked out specimens. When he took Mr. Hackett to this place within ten minutes he made a contract with some very needy looking men that he happened to see; some were Frenchmen, they might all have been tailors for aught he knew. Well, he made a contract with these men to "follow the lode." He left them and never saw them for a month, but he said in his report that they had worked for a month and there was no copper. When be (Mr. Wrey) saw how there were working he said, you are driving the wrong way; "yes," said the men, "we know that." The hole was sunk just upon the side of the cliff, and the tom-foolery that has been perpetrated is extraordinary. What he (Mr. Hackett) has done is to be seen; and he would undertake to say that a greater monument of folly does not exist under heaven. People had asked him how it was that no copper had been found since he had worked it. He said there never had been a day's work done in a workmanlike manner. Particular stress had been laid upon his competency, &c, as testified by his examiners; but there was such a thing as being able to answer all theoretical questions. The Australian railways had suffered through not knowing their candidates thoroughly, for out of thirty that were "up " to everything in questions, when it came to the field part, many were incapable of setting up a theodolite*' and very few indeed •really eligible. There was such a thing as cramming, and Mr. Hackett seemed to have crammed them. All he could say was, that he was now the Nelson Crammer. (Laughter) He knew that Mr. Sclanders was going home, -and that certain operations were going on. He had long wished to leave the position he held, and would have done so before had he not been the original projector. Mr.' W. read reports of the assay and analysis of the several panels of ore by Mr. Napier, of Glasgow, and Messrs. Bath and Son, Swansea, all in high praise of the ore; Messsrs. Bath also advising, as Mr. Wrey had . always intended, driving at the bottom of the mountain. In conclusion, he said he should follow the example of this nice little book, for he should publish a book also, aud then let the world judge who is right and who wrong. .(Cheers.) Mr. Ktchardson asked if any of the ore that had been sent home had been procured from any depth. Mr. Wrey replied that it had been got out of ten fathoms. Mr. Travers said he was much surprised to find that the report asserted that there was fraud to be attached to any one. From the •commencement every one wished to do heartily all they could to develop the mine for general and not to promulgate a falsity for ■selfish purposes. The copper certainly was very ■like that from the Burra Burra mine, but that was an argument in its favor, for certificates were sent home to prove its having been taken ;froin the Dun Mountain. These operations were carried on with the intention of sending to •England nothing but genuine and true specimens •of what the mine could produce. Mr. Duppa 'was present and could testify to having watched these things, the quantity of lodes or of their ultimate richness. Of course he could say but little, not being a practical miner, but when in -ftheir descriptions they used the word lode, it. was because they believed it to be so. If English shareholders were to lose every shilling they had ventured, he thought it would serve them right, for not having sent out some one before •to examine the mine, and to bear the onus pro<bandi. They took opinion from Messrs. Bath •and Son, the smelters, who said that there was no doubt those samples were from a lode ; and lie thought it was an unhandsome proceeding ■on their part to turn round with such accusations the promoters of the mine, who had tried to shew it fairly; aud he considered it 'due to Mr. Wrey to state that the charge was iunfounded. (Cheers.) Mr. Wrey, in answer to a question, said the amount of ore sent home was 12 to 15 tons; and then read some letters from Mr. Percival •and Mr. Napier, speaking of the analysis and great promise of the ores, and recommending .prosecution of the work. Mr. Creasy said : Gentlemen, we have been An the habit of seeing for years past fine specimens of copper ore, brought from the Dun Mountain. We learn that twelve tons have I)een sent to England. Now, then, is it reasonable to suppose that there is no more copper in j the mountain, as it is stated. This was readily •obtained. He believed that if this Company is wound up, that some other will take its place, ;and reap the harvest we have been so long waiting for. He would not sell any shares, ■whatever reports may be issued. If any trickery has been practised, as is insinuated, its ■origin is in London; and he thought that the treatment of the shareholders here by the London agent is aoything but straightforward, when it is known that many of us cannot get our certi fixates for our shares, and none of us any information. Mr. Duppa thought it very unjustifiable on the part of the Directors to attach fraud to Mr. Wrey in this matter, and he felt that all the •original promoters of the mine were thereby to •a certain extent implicated. Now he would just inform the meeting how he had acquired an interest in the mine. It was not until after Mr. Wrey had actually left Nelson for England, -with a view to form a Company and to raise capital to carry on mining operations at the Dun Mountain, that he for the first time visited the mine. Mr. Travers kindly acted as his guide on this excursion, and on his arrival at the mine he had been very much astonished with what he saw. At the same time he •thought that enough had not been done to sufficiently test the mine even preliminarily: and upon his expressing this to Mr. Travers, he {Mr. T.) undertook to make over to Mr. Duppa three preference shares for every pound sterling that he should spend in further testing the mine. Mr, J>. thereupon agreed to spend at least .£SO in (hat way, and returned to Nelson, and immediately engaged several hands for the purpose. He had himself lived several weeks up at the mine, occupying himself in exploring all about the neighborhood of the Dun Mountain, whilst the men were engaged working: in the course of which explorations he had found an additional outcropping of very rich copper ore. Whether it may be called a lode or simply a vein, he could not say. It was dow known as the Duppa's lode^ In the immediate neighborhood of this too, he had found tiu immense lode of chromic iron, having been led up to it by a line of large detached masses of it which had rolled down the face of the mountain. He had supposed this to be chromic iron from its similarity to traces of what Mr. Travers had pointed out to him as being chromic iron in the detached masses of what he called

the Dun Mountain proper; and at tbe same time had told him that it was a most valuable ore, from the fact of its containing a large proportion of chromic acid, in extensive use for the purposes of dyeing and manufacture of paint. His conjecture with regard to the lode of it was confirmed by Mr. Travers, and subsequently proved to be correct by assay in England and in Nelson. He, moreover, found copper ore of various qualities all over the face of that part of the Dun Mountain where the lodes or veins occur, and could easily imagine, and really believed, Mr. Wrey to be perfectly sincere in his sanguine anticipations with regard to the mine, and thought. Mr. Hackett was not justified in writing to the Directors to the effect that the existeuce of copper ore was " all moonshine" At the same time, he concurred with Mr. Travers in thinking those persons at home who had shewn a desire to invest capital in the mine should have first ascertained how far Mr. Wrey was qualified as a mineral surveyor before risking their capital, and that of others who had looked to them to take such preliminary steps as prudence would dictate, before incurring such heavy expenses. But in spite of all that had been said, he could not help thinking that there must be i a large mass of copper in the Dun Mountain. With regard to the shares he owned in the miue, he could have sold them over and over again at par, which would have been equal to three hundred per cent premium upon his original outlay d k But he did not care to sell them, having wished rather to give a helping hand to the successful development of the mine, rather than expecting to derive any immediate individual profit from it. And if the Directors refused to issue tbe scrip to which, he and others were justly entitled, he would not hesitate to take his share with the other shareholders in a similar position, in compelling the Directors to issue the scrip. (Cheers.) It was then proposed by Mr. Levien, and seconded by Mr. Edwards — That it is the opinion of this meeting that, after the explanations of Mr. Wrey and others in reference to the actual existence of copper in the Dun Mountain, that the accusations of fraud made by the Directors in London are unfounded and uncalled for. Carried unanimously. j After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting broke up.