The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1794, 2 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1874.

We have seen a prosptctus of the Miranda Coal and Mineral Company. On the face of it there are no points about this prospectus differing from any other prospectus which we have seen. It is a fair specimen of the typographical art, and further ornamented with an embossed seal, which will doubtless figure largely in future ages on the company's scrip and transfers of scrip. The prospectus—like all documents of the sets forth in glowing terms the advantages offered by •the Company. The situation of the ground which is to form the scene, of the company's operations is unrivalled^ Coal and iron abound— the former in such quantities that winning it must be as easy a task as that offered to lovers of roast pork by the cooked pigs running about and crying " come and eat me." Then the coal when won can be sold so very cheaply, and will produce so many more thousand feet of gas per ton than any other coal, that the price of gas must necessarily be lowered as soon as the company is floated, or else a rival company will have to be started. In fact there is no doubt but that the author of the prospectus before us possesses in a marked degree tho art of putting things, and we cannot account for the lukewarmness of the mine and battery managers al the meeting last night, unless it be that their suspicions have been aroused by the pertinent questions put to the directors through the medium of the correspondence columns of Auckland newspapers. These questions certainly put a different coloring on the prospectus. If it be true that the promoters of the company reserve to themselves 5000 paid up shares merely for their trouble in forming the Company, the prospectus is deceptive, because it withholds that important piece of information. If these same directors make it a condition that they shall be life directors, there is another ground of objection. If it had been stated in the prospectus that the promoters wanted 5000 paid up shares for their interest, and seats at the directory during the term of their natural lives, the prospectus would have been more likely to inspire confidence; and these conditions were virtually admitted last night. While, therefore, the prospectus offers no peculiarity of feature, there is a suppressed element in the procedure of the promoters ; and if they want to see the Miranda Coal and Mineral Company successfully floated —as the Thames people would like to see it—we apprehend they will have to modify the;r proposals considerably, or else keep the whole thing—good as it is—to themselves.