MINING INVESTMENTS.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 82, 13 January 1872, Page 3

MINING INVESTMENTS.

Tue following interesting article appears in yesterday’s D. S. Crnas : A contributor furnishes us with the following mining data:—-“The calls advertised at this date, 10th inst.. payable in January, amount to £S,GOG sterling. To which may bn added a call of £’2,500 on Tookcy’s, and £SGO on Otago’s, due at the cud of last moldli, giving a total ol £8,40(5 in three wicks. The dividends during the same period have been nil. Of the above calls, about £7,<100 are wanted to prospect an area of 124 acres; as follows :—• Shotover, 2 acres ... ... £2,240 Red Queen, 3 acres ... 1,1200 Tookey, b acres ... ... ‘2,500 Central Italy, 2A acres ... 700 Otago, 2 acres “ ... ... 500 Total, 124 acres ... £7,000 AVc publish the above in order to remove the wrong impression it would be calculated to create, should it have appeared in any contemporary journal without an explanation attached to it. It is, we believe, quite correct that during the last three weeks calls have been made by mining companies amounting to £8,400 ; but it is not correct that ‘the dividends during the same period have been nil,’ as the following statement, will show : —On December ‘2b, the Bendigo Independent Goldinining Company paid 12s (id on 040 shares, amounting to £3b7 10s. The Californian Goldinining Company, Is Od on 2,5)52 shares, amounting to £221 8s 7d ; and the Pride of Tokatea, Is Gil on 20,000 shares, amounting to £1,500. it has also to he borne in mind that out of the three weeks referred to, have to he deducted quite a fortnight of holidays, during which time none of the companies’ claims have been at wmk, and consequently no dividends were looked for or expected. The calls, amounting to £7,000. upon these well-known proprietary reefs, are required not so much because the claims are bad or unpayable, but because new ground is required tc> bo opened up, which may yield a hundred or a thousand fold upon the outlay. In mining, as in commerce, it seldom happens that a merchant or a tradesman disposes of the whole of his stock before he is called upon to pay for its purchase. And so with mining enterprise; there must numcrally be an outlay before a return. The calls amounting to £B,4GG are made that a profit may follow by a further development of the auriferous wealth in the claims for which such calls are issued. A merchant will frequently lose by bis investments. That is, be may have to sell a parcel of goods at a lower figure than he purchased it; hut lie is not to give up buying and selling because this" may occasionally happen. 8o with shareholders in goldmining claims. Calls paid may he money uselessly invested : or money very profitably employed.' The result can only be known by the trial. If calls had not "been made and responded to, the wealth of the Caledonian and other rich claims would not have been known to this hour. The following dividends have been paid on reefs since the 9th December to loth January, which, allowing fourteen days for holidays, certainly shows a very healthy state of affairs : SHAKES. .C s. a. Dec. !*. Star of the Tluinus, Is on •*>. I*n) ‘270 o o „ 11. To’sntea, Ss on - - ‘20,c00 s,ooo n 0 ~ I*2. Una. Is on - - l’»,000 TOO 0 0 „ 13. Caledonian, .£•*> on - *2.sgo 1 !,::oo o o IR. Thames. £1 loson - !),000 0.000 n o 211. Bendigo Jmlc. 12s (I<l. on - *>lo 337 1o o dan. H. California i. Is od on - '2.5 QV2 *2*2l $ o „ i:>. Pride of Tokatea - - - 1.-‘»co o o IS o