TE AROHA GOLDFIELDS BATTERY.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1331, 11 January 1881, Page 2

TE AROHA GOLDFIELDS BATTERY.

A laege and enthusiastic meeting of eiainiholders and othera interested in the development of the above named goldfield, took place at Te Aroha on the evening of Friday, for the puijposo of decidinz upon initatory steps in the formation of a company for erection of a public battery. The meeting as we have said, was largely attended, and the proceedings throughout showed that all present were fully alive to the importance of the occasion in its allimportant relations to the development of these goldfield discoveries. The resolutions adopted were the following : 1 That the requisite Bteps be taken for forming a joint stock company on the limited liability principle, with a capital of £2000 in 4000 shares of 10s each, nil paid up, for the purpose of erecting a battery of eleven head of stamps, with the necessary berdens. 2. That Messrs Adam Porter, C. Mcliean, J. Goldsworth, T. a. Sandes, H, E. Whitaker, G. Lipsey, an<l Edmond Fitzpatrick, be appointed a board of provisional directors, to take the necessary steps for forming the company, make arrangements for the purchase of machinery, and all other matters connected with the erection thereof.

The evening of Saturday last, Messrs Porter and Sandes { meb a number of gentlemen belonging to Hamilton, interested in the development of the Te Aroha reefs, for the purpose of urging the claims of the projected battery company to their favorable consideration. The interview took place in the Coraraerciel Hotel, Hamilton, Captain Steele being voted to the chair. Mr Porter stated in explanation, that it must be evident to all of them that Avithout a battery on the ground the true value o f these reefs could not be fairly estimated. Tho cost of sending stone to be crushed jit a distance would operate as a serious drawback to the devolepment of the field, and in that way its intrests were liable to bo seriously damaged at the very outset. That was the view taken at the meeting held at Te Aroha, and it was to obviate that difficulty that the pioposal to erect a battery on the ground had been made. The proposition was a selfs-evident one, F.nd he argued it would be perfectly plain to those present. So far as the prospectors had ascertained, the cost of a battery sufficient for all the requirements of the case would not exceed £1000. What was proposed was that a company should be formed, as stated above, that a sum of two shilling and sixpence per share should be paid on application, and a further sum of two shillings and sixpence on allotment. The provisional directory had been constituted of local men. That was deemed advisable, so as to enable the work to be gone on with at once. Time was, as they could well understand, a matter of importance, and delay in carrying out the piojeet would operate prejudically upon the interests of the entire field. He, and his coufrcr, Mr Sandes, had been appointed to visit the districts interested in the field — Gambridge, Hamilton and Auckland — with a view of getting residents in those places to take an interest in, and coopeiato with them in gettinsr the batteiy started. The provisional directory had .secured valuable water rights, as al k o a battery site situated in a position central to the whole field. The sum required to be expended on a battery such as they required, would not exceed £10(>0. In fact they had two offers of bdtteiie", and they giounded their opinion of the cost upon these offer? . Either of the batteues oft'eied would be cheap, and they would have this further recommendation, that they could be erected at once, and in full working order within a period of bixweek«. What tiicy now desired was to see what support they could get from Hamilton. Mr Hill would receive applications for shares in this place, and what he (Mr Porter) and his colleague, Mr Sandes were deputed to do, was to visit this and the other districts to afford the requi-dto information, and, generally, promote the inteieito of the concern. Many of the gentlemen present weie personally interested in the claims, and they would see at a glance the importance of getting the proposed battery company floated with aa little deUy as possible As an example of the energy shown by the provisional directors, he had only to point to the fact that the meeting- was hold last night at Te Aroha, at which tho preliminary airangcments were made. He and Mr S indes had already visited Cambridge, and now they had come to Hamilton on the Fame errand. That of itself proved that the projectors of the Company were in real earnest and did not mean to allow unnecessary delay la carrying out the mutter. In reply to questions put, Mr Porter said that they had met with considerable encouragement in Cambridge. He could not say what number of shares were likely to be taken up there. They had merely broached the subject the same as they wero doing here. They had not solicited the taking up of shares. What they did, was to bring the subject before the public, and left Mr Cotton to receive applications for that district. Still he could say that their visit to Cambridge had been successful. The project had been well received and he looked upon that as an augur of succc-s. He was himself largely interested in claims at Te Aroha, and he certainly would recommend the directors of the company in which he was interested, to take up shares in the battery. What he intended to recommend was that his company should invest not less than £200 in shares. Hamilton being largely interested in the development of the reefs, he thought there should be no difficulty in getting a good interest taken up in this place. Mr White asked if it was proposed that the shares should be taken up by companies as companies, or merely by the individual members of these companies as individuals. Mr Porter was understood to reply that that would be a mere matter of arrangement as between companies and their individual partners. Mr Hill said that they would have nothing to pay for the battery site. Mr H. E. Whitaker : And, besides that, valuable water- right privileges have been secured. The Chairman had no desire to cast a damper on the movement, still ho could not help expressing disappointment that the affair was not in a much more forward state. The projectors appear to have got nothing as yet but mere promises of support. These promises 'might, or they might not, turn out to be very much good. Be that as it might, they had nothing really tangible to go upon. Two or three weeks ago, Mr H. E. Whitaker had spoken to him on the subject, and from what transpired he was led to believe that the matter would, by this i: fcime, have assumed a much more definite shape. Mr Porter should have come prepared -with something more definite than he had got, and by that meana he would have placed the residents ' of Hamilton in a much better position for , deciding upon what they «hould f do.' (He' ought tp have; been in a position po inform' the meeting what Te^Aroha was (-prepared to do, as also the numbekgiimajea l^ty.to;be taken ,np by lie^l^^lff^C^Oamljriage; ;,He, l*ad' nq

wish to throw a damp£r>on the more*! ment. He quite recognised its importance, as also the fact that the field never could be properly developed until a battery had been erected on the ground. He himself was quite willing to assist, and he thought it was the bounding duty of everyone interested in the field to take part in the projact. If all interested did a little, he had not the slightest doubt but that the thing would be done, and that without very much trouble. Mr Sandea said that to put matters in a more definite shape, as the remarks of "the chairman appeared to indicate, he desired he might explain that out of the 4000 shares of which it was proposed to constitute the company 2000, it was- thought, ought to be reserved ; 1000 for disposal in the Waikato, and the other 1000 between Auckland and the Thames. He defended the projectors from the implied charge of remisaness made by the previous speaker. The formation of the , company had been talked of for the last two or three weeks, but the whole thing had been nothing more than talk. Finding nothing definite was being done, on the morning of Tuesday last, the matter was taken in hand, with the view of organising something definite. A meeting was called, and that meeting was held the previous afternoon, at 4 o'clock. It was a large meeting, all the claims on the field being represented. During the short time that had intervened, they could not possibly ascertain the actual number of shares that wculd be taken. All they could look for was a promise that they would be taken up, and that the project would meet with every encouragement. Mr Porter also defended the projectors from the implied charge of reinissuess. Since Mr Sandes and himself had been appointed, they had not been idle, and it was quite unreasonable to suppose that during the short time that had elapsed, more could have been done than what had actually been accomplished. Mr H. E. Whitaker spoke in a similar strain. The projectors had beeu most ensrgetic in their endeavours. They had used their best endeavours to get shares taken up, and to induce the claim-holders to take an interest in the matter. One reason wby they were not in a position to show a large list of shareholders, was that they were not by any means anxious that such a list should be opened until the matter had been fully ventilated. One man who represented a claim would say to them, well, I am piopared to take up ten shares at once, but we may be able to make it fifty if you will give mo time to consult with my mates. He had no doubt in his own mind but that they would be able to dispose of 2000 of the shares between Te Aroha and Waitoa. The chairman reite-ed his . disappointment that something more , definite had not been done since the subject was first mentioned to him by Mr Whitaker. it would have been a very simple matter for the projectors to have gone round the claims even before the meeting was held and have got the claim-holders to put down their names for ten, fifty, or a hundred shares, according as they might be disposed. He would have much sooner seen them go about their work in that way, than the way they appear to have done. He frankly admitted the election of a battery was necessary. It was the only means for developing the fifld. Had the course he suggested been pursued id would have given them more confidence in taking up shares. The prospectors' claim might very well have been asked to sfart the list by putting down a good .sum. They had got .something altoady out of the field, and the one half of the claim w.is at present in the market. They could very well have afforded to start the Hit with a few hundred pounds. Mr H. E. Whitaker said it was quite true lie had a conversation with the chairman about two weeks ago. He was then on his way to Auckland with the view of getting the proposal put into training. In consequence of the holidays having intervened, lie experienced considerable delay m getting the business done. The shareholders had arranged to close their offices. That, of itself, wasted some three or four days. In Auckland he called on several gentlemen who held large interests in the mines, and pointed out to them that even if they had to throw away £20 or £30, that was the only way they could possibly succeed in testing the value ot the field. Without a battery nothing could be done, ami supposing that gold was got the battery would increase the value of their properties. He mentioned that to show that whatever delay had taken place was unavoidable in the circumstances. Mr F. A. Whitaker was n/>t sure but that the feeling expressed by the chairman was natural under the circumstances. He to would have liked to have seen something more tangible than had been placed before the meeting. He would liked to have seen the promises referred to in writing. He had no doubt, however, but that the piomi>-es would bo made good. He had reason to know that much that had been stated was correct. Still, it was only natural that in going to the outside public they should expect to f-ee something in writing. As he understood the proposal they were not expected at present to say how far they were prepared to go in the way of takiug up sharps. If they carrind a resolution endorsing the purposes of the scheme, that was about all they were as'-ed to do. Mr White endorsed that opinion, and moved a resolution " That in the opinion of this meeting, it was advisable that a battery should be erected, and that this meeting pledges itselt to use its best endeavours to assist in affecting that object." Before resumicg his seat, ho oxpressed an opinion that this was a work in defraying the cost of which Government might very properly be asked to lend a helping hand. The Government owned large tracks of country in the vicinity, and tho development of a goldfield would be of great importance in enhancing the value of that property. It was on that account he argued Government might reasonably be expected to assist. . Mr "F. A. Whitaker was strongly of the opinion that the sooner New Zealand abandoned the practice of looking to Government for assistance in matters of this kind, it would be the better for all concerned. The motion was then put and carried unanimously, and the meeting separated.