TARANAKI OIL AND FREEHOLD COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 30 November 1907, Page 3

TARANAKI OIL AND FREEHOLD COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING, About twenty shareholders attended the annual meeting of the Tarauaki Oil and Freehold Company, Limited, held in the Town Hall last night. Mr. F. P. Corkill, chairman of directors, presided, and subinitteded the annual report. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet Mr. Corkill said there was no need to enlarge upon the qualities possessed l>v the manager, Mr. Balloch. He made reference to the exceedingly hard rock which had been pcnctralcd', anil which had prevented rapid progress hcing made. They were now drilling in softer country. It bad been suggested tint the gas which had been lighted in the swamp on the company's property was only swamp gas, but the directors Ik mght it had l>een conclusively proved tl it it was petroleum gas. 'The final'eos of the company were in a very satisfactory condition, ami t!i,'i-e was ample money in view for carrying on the next year's operations, lie went

on to say that there was a large number of outside shareholders, ami the directors had thought it advisable to give these shareholders an opportunity «f appointing a representative on the directorate.

j Mr. Okey seconded the motion, and i Mr. T. S. Weston supported, exprcssj ing his entire satisfaction with the di rectors and the officers of the company. The motion was carried. REMUNERATION OF DIRECTORS. The Chairman said that, as holder of Mr. G. W. Henderson's proxies, he had, in that gentleman's absence to submit his motion to pay .€lO to each of the directors now in office (Messrs. T. K. Skinner, G. W. Browne, and M. Jones), who had received no stipulated salary, and a similar amount to Mr. W. t Jennings, M. 11. R., who had been compelled by his parliamentary duties to resign from the board. In moving the Chairman said thai Mr. Henderson held 200 paid-up shares in the company. He could not help endorsing the desire to give some tangible' recognition of the valuable services rendered bv his codirectors.

No seconder coming forward, the Chairman said Hint a large shareholder, also represented by proxy, would second, but he pref rred to 'have the motion seconded in the room.

After another interval, in which no one present scenic! disposed to s]ieak, the Chairman anno- need that the motion was seconded bv Mr. Atkinson, of Ormondville, by proxy. The motion was carried, with one dissentient.

CHAIRMAN'S SALARY. Tiiu Chairman introduced the matter [of tiie chairman's reiuuiieration. The shareholders at lust animal meeting had voted £IOO for the chairuiau. lie had drawn that money, and he considered he hud earned it. Mr. H. Newman moved that the directors set aside £IOO for the chairman, whoever lie might be, for the ensuing year's work. Mr Newman said he had some idea of the work done In retiring chairman in the past year, and the amount of tine he had devoted to the company's all'airs. He considered that it was only a fair thing to pay £IOO to the chairman of directors. ' Mr. A. J. Harrison seconded. Mr. Andrews said the mover seemed to have come with this motion "readv in his pocket." It tnis sort of thing were going to continue, there would he very little left for the shareholders. He was strongly opposed to the resolution.

Mr. I". Okcy said he believed in being fairly liberal to the men who did the work in a concern like this, but 1/ thought it rather too much to vote £IOO a year in advance to the chairman. He had thought that the .€IOO voted last year had been for the directors. The Chairman—You couldn't have thought that, Mr. Okey. Mr. Okey said that another company had voted its directors £IOO for about two years' work. That, he thought, was niggardly, but the proposition liefore the meeting erred in the other direction. It was out of the question to vote £IOO to the chairman. The directors had already received 25 fully-paid-up shares.

Mr. McArthur asked if this were a fair question to put to the directorsDid the chairman do ten times as much work as the other directors?

Mr. Medley thought it hardly a fair question. Mr. McArthur thought the disparity between the chairman s £IOO and the directors' £lO was too great. He would support a onation —- The Chairman objected lo the term donation. The shareholders were not making a. donation to the chairman or to the directors, but merely voting remuneration for services.

Mr. McArthur said he didn't mind the term " remuneration,'' but £IOO to the chairman was too much.

ill-. .Medley (the secretary), as the holder of 71 proxies, said lie was jnuliably the most qualiiied man to judge. He thought the chairman earned Ins .CIOO. Anyone who had had anything ollicially lo do wilh a eonipany would recognise the amount of work that fell to the chairman. The Chairman said he had some diffidence in speaking on the matter concerning himself. Hut he was satislied that some of those who were opposing the resolution had 110 idea ot what the chairman had to do and what lie had done, or they would not have spoken as they had done. He had made one trip to Auckland and three to Wellington on the company's business, and had received only his out-of-pocket expenses, recognising that lie was receiving iIUU a year for his time. When the directors had received quotations for casing from the New Zealand agent of a British firm, he thought the price that was (pmted, .11772 5s 3d, was too high, and asked the directors to allow him to see what he could do at Home. He landed the material of the same quality and from tire same linn, for £11!).)" 19s 3d. Did the chairman earn his CHID last year? This | was not altogether a personal matter. j The vote proposed was for the chairman, whoever he might be. ! The motion was carried by six votes j to four, the remaining shareholders refraining from voting.

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. lire Chairman auiiuunced thai only one nomination for the vacancies on the directorate was in order. In addition, he ottered himself for re-election. Tiiere hail been two others sent in, bill thev were informal. Mr. T. S. Weston nominated .Messrs. 'C W. Henderson and F. P. Corkill, ami these were duly elected, only one shareholder dissenting. Mr. Corkill returned thanks for his re-election. He believed that the confidence thereby expressed was shared by (shareholders "jaJl over tlle Dominion, judging by the number of proxies sent to him and the secretary. I'poii lite (motion ol Messrs. Newman and Browne. Mr. T. O'Kolscy was re-elected auditor. A vote of thauks was accorded the

Mr. McArtlmr proposed ;i hearty vole | of thiinks to tlio chairman and officers. ■ including the manager, i This being carried, the chairman re- 1 turned thanks, lie said lie knew his 1 el low-directors and the officers would 1 ippreciate the vote as he did. lie felt onlidcnt that the gentium™ who had woken against the voting of the chairman's remuneration could liav'e had no ;nowlcdge of what had been done, and ihat had not been done. In an underaking like this, which was more or less if a gamble and nothing else, it was i«t fair to expect a man to give a ,irge jwrtion of his time unless lie were ssiired of some return. He was not irepared to give his year's work and ;ike his chance at the end of the year, le noticed that the builders and ironmongers didn't offer to wait for their ceomits until the company had struck iil. The directors were not out for a lie'nic to spend the shareholders' mon'ey. ,Nt would expend it in the best mtcr-.(d-i of the coinpnuv. He hoped that n - the time the next animal meeting nmc round the directors would be able o report having struck oil, and reconii n„. (lmHii" of a bigger concern, nend the iiocUin„ '» " r- ~ leVas sorrv that so few shareholder ~d availed ' themselves of the _opi.orJin -,tv to visit the work* when invited v the directors. TTe remarked hat o 25 shares allotted to the directors. „a referred to hv Mr. Okcv earlier ,n . evening had hecn for services ren>crcd prior to the first annual uieelu.-. vTequest. Mr. Ttallock. the mav „,r l.rieflv described the V'ogicss of be Win*.' The drill had r,ow reached depth of 234 feet. There had been an xcellent ,ho W of oil that afternoon ml that didn't betoken anything at ,resenf. Tn two hours the other day hey had sunk eleven feet. Ibrou'.'h the , a ,; n _n. good wnrkin" in a 13-inch bore. ■be manager submitted a carefullyireiiared diagram illustrating the na- ,„.,. of the eounfrv traver-cd bv the i,-,r in Hie fir-t bore. The fir-t six nches was described ns ■•mould." •rom !oft. Sin. tufa continued lo a ~„tli of filft. Oin.. scoriae to r>s.rt. and 4ft. fiin. of verv hard conglomerate to iOft. Din, Iroiisftpd was then encoun-

tered, and at BGft. Oin. came hard boulders and sand for 30y 3 feet. A long stretch of brown colouring represented 71 feet of very hard boulders, in which the drill made slow progress, a dark blotch at about 150 feet showing a great boulder that had to be pierced. In passing through this the drill got below Sea-level. Boulder clay (Bft. 3in.) and dead sand (Ift. Oin.) brought the rod to 10 feet of very hard rock again, and, having got through this, the welcome papa was reached. This continued to 228 feet, the depth reached at the time the diagram was prepared. Another diagram compared the size of the company's 15-inch bore, to the 0-inch and I'/i-inch bores in use in other I parts of tlie "district, the latter having been the diameter of the original Birthday bore. A diameter of 15 inches gave an area of 170% inches, which was 2% times larger than the 9-inch and 11 times greater than the 4%-inch bore.

Mr. Okey complimented Mr. Balloeh on the excellence of the diagram. Every company, he thought, should give this information. Mr. Sinclair was proceeding to address the meeting as to his standing there as thr representative of shares. He -wanted to know if he would be any better situated at next meeting. Mr. Weston rose to a point of order, and the chairman, after assuring Mr. Sinclair that the matter would be settled to his satisfaction, closed tho discussion. There was no further business.