Goxp any Try.—Setasa.—Pussom.—TBE
Woxp or Wazxrxc.
(By arrangement with the writer.)
Singapore, 5th March, 1890, The Malay Peninsula occupies a siderable part of the attention of the mining world at this moment. It has for " long time, of course, been one of the largest producers of tin, 'Straits Tin " being as! familiar in the market as 'China Tea." But the last two years have seen not only a great extension of tin mining, but a sudden and. remarkable development of gold or perhaps, it would be more' strictly accurate to' say, of floating gold mining companies. Enormous sums of! money are invested in this interest in the Straits themselves, in Hongkong, in London, and in Australia; very little is known about these enterprises, even by those whose money is in them, and yet there is much general information that ought of value. I have taken great interest in the subject, and I will try to give some of this, only premising that, with one exception, which I shall specify, I have not myself, either directly or indirectly, the remotest interest in any of the undertakings shall mention.
There are hundreds of tin mines in the Peninsula, but all except three or four are alluvial mining, that is, the upper deposit of earth, technically called " over-burden," being removed, " stratum of tin-sand is exposed from which the black tin" (oxide of tin) is separated by washing and subsequently smelted tu get the "white tin" or metal as commonly known. And the others, where tin is sought in reefs or "lodes," which must be crushed in stampers before washing, have not yet done anything to justify their existence; indeed, they have hardly had time. By' far the greater part of the alluvial tin mining is in nds of Chinese. There are several highly remunerative alluvial tin mines owned and worked by Europeans, such as the Melbourne Tin Ming Company, Limited, whose mine is within two hun: dred yards of the Residency in Perak, and which has paid in four years dividends amounting to eight shillings and six pence upon a called-up capital of five shillings per share, and of whose concession of 65 acres nearly two-thirds is still untouched. But as a rule the expense of European supervision eats up most of the profits, and even then the supervision of Chinese coolies by the most intelligent and devoted Europeans is not nearly as effective as the supervision by Chinese employers. An example of this has just been furnished by the sudden and complete bankruptey of the Rawang Tin Mining Company in Selangor, a most discreditable and apparently unnecessary failure. Two Chinese capitalists have purchased the mine from the liquidators, and, from all accounts, they will m: agood thing of it. But a still more important reason for the success of alluvial tin mining by Chinese is that a new mine is in the majority of cases opened up on ce-operative principles. The master fur-niches the land and appliances, the coolies ire their labour for a certain Sxed period nothing is found, the master loses time and money, the coolies lose their labour; if it is 'n success, the profit is divided in a certain fixed proportion.
The principal tin lode-mines in the Peninsula are three—the Pahang Corporation, the Pahang-Kabang, and the Selama Tin Mining Company, the latter a Hongkong company, with a mine situated in Perak. The shares at the present moment, at a time of financial depression in Hongkong, are at 75 per cent premium. There is a lode on the concession, but its size and direction have not yet been determined, as pumps ate not yet in position to clear the workings of water. I believe, however, that every expert who has visited the place has expressed great confidence in the value of the property.
The other two lode-mines are of a voy different character, and are now among the most familiar investments in London. The Pahang Corporation, Limited, is a eompany formed to work a concession originally quired by Mr, William Fraser from the Sultan of Pahang at a date prior to the coming of Pahang under British protection (August, 1888). "This concession is said to extend over the enormous area of 2,000 square miles. The company's capital la £200,000, in 200,000 shares of £1 fully paid up. Of this, however, only £22,000 was forthcoming for working capital—of course, an utterly inadequate sum. Then a small outlying portion of the concession was sold to other extremely enterprising persons, and floated as the Pahang-Kabang Com. pany, Limited, also with a ex pital of £200,000 in £1'shares, of which £50,000 in ash, and an equal sum in fully paid shares, was paid as purchase money to the Pahang Corporation, About this time the boom' came: shares ran up in London to £9, at which lange numbers were sold, and several fortunes pocketed by the lucky boldero, The present quoted price is £4 5s, in London and $27 in Singapore.
Now, as the most confidently and elaborately optimistic forecasts have been widely made in England on behalf of this company, and in consequence' much money invested by persons of limited means, it is right that the English investor should be told one or two things. First, that the Pahang Corporation, all its direc: tors' statements to the contrary notwithstanding, is not. in certain pernianent possession of the whole of its large concession. Mr. Rodger, the British Resident in Pahang, has clearly, stated (seo his Report for 1888, p. 5), and has re-affirmed to me in conversation, that, after the expiration of five years (where no time is specified in the concession), only such areas of land will be confirmed to the concession-holders as they have actually developed or can show that they are about to develop immediately, to "prevent rich mining districts from being unproductively locked up for indefinite periods." I inquired subsequently in higher quarters whether this threat was not made in tervorem only, and I have the highest authority to state directly and positively that it is to be taken literally, and. will be literally and strictly enforced. As Mr, Fraser's concession was granted prior to August, 1888, it can therefore have less than three and 4 half years to run in its original form, and consequently the Pahang Corporation, Limited, has the task of either developing or selling nearly the whole 2,000 square miles within this period. Whether their means are sufficient for this, and whether their past rate of progress warrants the anticipation that they will accomplish it, are matters for the shareholders themselves to determine, American slang, it is their own funeral. The alternative remains that they may sell very large portions, But intending purchasers would be well advised to consider the matter very carefully before buying. As regards agriculture, it is almost certain that, Shen the planting boom comes to the Malay Peninsula, as it surely will, planters will go to other parts before Pahang. And as for mining, any smaller offshoot of the Pahang Corporation—the Pahang-Kabang, for instanee—seems to mean the horns of this dilemma; either the Pahang Corporation is a very rich mine and will produce an enormous quantity of tin, or it will net. If it does, the price of tin will fall, the larger company can produce it more chi than the smaller, and what chance of profit will the latter have? If it does not, a fortior#, how can its offshoot, working ona portion sold because presumably of less value, expect to do ce"? should be frankly warned to look with Again, itis right that the Nome investor
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.