Report of proceedings at the extraordin: ary general meeting held at the Company's Office, 9, Fenchurch Avenue, London, E.C., on Monday, the 20th March, 1893, at 2 p.m., Mr. James Whittall, El of the Company, in the Chair.
The Secretary having read the notice convening the meeting, The Chairman said—Gentlemen, the report has now been in your hands some days, and I presume we may ta Owing to an attack of influenza, this is the first day I may say for some time past that T have been able to attend to business, and I hope you will excuse me if I read to you the few remarks I have to make, after which I shall be pleased to answer any questions you may wish to ask in order to more fully explain our unfort te position, in case you should take Jess unfavourable view of our prospects than wede, I say this as, since the issue of our report, several shareholders have sugested that we should not arrive at too lasty & decision, seeing that the largest portion of our stock is held in China, and that there has not been time yet to ascertain the views taken out there; and further selected for this mission, although Mr. Hammond is not sanguine about the new discovery, St. Eliz he a down not actually condemn' it, and that it would be worth while to develop it further beforeabsndoning our enterprise. Weadmit there may be avine reason in this; but, recognising that we are more than bank-
selves the responsibility of recommend rapt already, we cannot take upon our you any further expenditure unless it is cial desire. I feel sure is unnecessary for me to reiterate the feelings of deep regret and disappointnient with which my colleagues and my. self have deemed it necessary to recom-customs ores obtainable, to carry on a mend to you the voluntary winding-up of the Company. As you are aware, I have from the first taken a personal inter its welfare, and with my late partner, M: Bosman, whose lamented death we riy all deplore, I have given it, for some time past, considerable financial support besides being the holder of a large number of shares. Thave also on four separate occasions visited the mines at no little personal inconvenience and expense, so that you_may readily imagine with what reluctance I have arrived. at the conclusion, in common with my co-Directors, that we seo no alternative but to go into voluntary liquidation, The caures which have led to this unfortunate result have been briefly set furth in the report now submitted to you, and I have only to add a word or two in addition, so that you may all be thoroughly in possession of the facts of the case. At the extraordinary general meeting of the old Company, held on the 11th of April, last year, the necessity for finding fresh capital by liquidation and reconstruction was fully explained, and the Directors recommended the erection of smelting plant for the reduction of the ores in place of the concentrating mill, which through unforeseen difficulties had been found unsuitable for the purpose. They were, toa large extent, induced to recommend this policy by the statement that the smelters would be availed of by mine owners in the district, and that thus a sufficient variety of material would be at hand, with suitable fluxes, to enable smelting of our ores to be carried fon with success and profit. As to the Company's ores we never had a doubt as to their quantity and value. When in 1891 an American engineer named Womble published certain damaging statement: garding the mine in a London financial paper, the Board at once referred the matter to the Company's officials, and in reply Mr. John Whyte, the Resident Mining Manager, whose original report was embodied in the prospectus of the Cumpany, wrote as follows:—I have inet received your letter asking to confirm amount of ore estimated by me as being in sight in all the mines, November, 1890. I cannot change my estimate of some 60,000 tons and confirm the same now." The Directors ere entirely reassured by this confident and explicit reiteration of Mr. Whyte's original opinion, and concluded that no importance need be attached to Mr. Womble's adverse statements. Again, during my visit as Into as January, 1892, Mr. Whyte assured me in the presence of Mr. Seymour, our superintendent, when examining the Imuris Mine, and stoping had commenced to supply the mill, that the quantity of ore opened up there he estimated at 80,000 tons, but making allowance for country rock likely to be met with, I could rely upon 60,000 tons being available. Subsequently, when concentration was not found to answer, and smelting came up for consideration, the only point which appeared to us necessary to determine was whether the requisite fluxes could be ubtained to make the process feasible. It was to settle this important question that the Directors resolved to have the opinion of some competent authority before ordering the smelting fuznauce plant, and, as you are already aware, Mr. Trelease was His unfortunate ness prevented him from carrying it out, Mr. Dufield, " gentleman of great experience in such matters, then accompanied my present partner, Mr, R. 8. Corbett, to the mines to take up and complete the work.
Mr. Duffield at once C recognised the comparatively poor quality of the Imuris ore for smelting, and that the absence of the necessary fluxes would make it an expensive process if we depended entirely upon our own resources; but knowing the region round about from previous inspection thoroughly, he could see 10 difficulty, in conjunction with the profitable undertaking, and his coufdence was increased when, during his visit last August, a new vein of ore was discovered, afterwards called the St. Eliza, of great apparent value, assaying as much as $250 per ton, this high standard being confirmed by telegrams received as recently as the 11th of November last. Still the Board were not fully satisfied, and they decided not to order any new plant for the time being, but to further prove existing lodes and open up new ones, and to try whether by ply cleaning and dressing the ore it could be brought to market without going through a more expensive process. In the month of December last, however, reports were received of the excessive hard of the country rock in the St, Eliza mine, which made the process of working it exceedingly expensive; and the Board, becoming somewhat uneasy at this wholly unexpected development, requested their Manager by cable to give them his candid opinion as to the outlook. The replies they received were not xt all sv explicit and satisfactory as they could have wished, and as the continued heavy drain upon the Company's resources lad rendered it necessary for me again to afford it financial support, the Board thought it best to procure the independent opinion of a thor before asking "lh up another call. The result of this decision you are already acquainted with, and it is for you to sly whether, in face of Mr. Hanmond's report, you desire to continue the undertaking. ' "With regard to. the reliability of Mr. Hammond's opinion, I can only say that he was recommended to the Board by the London, Paris and American Bank of San Francisco as a professional expert of the highest standing, and the Board has no reason to doubt the bona fides of his inspection or the soundness of the conclusions lo draws therefrom. It may of course be. argued that against his opinion there are to be set the reports and statements made at various times by sv many other experts. It must be borne in wind, however, that Mr, Hamimond's conclusions have been arrived at after the mines have been largely opened up, and that the evidence at his disposal was therefore far more extensive and conclusive than that upon which former opinions have been based; however, it is for you, gentlemen, to say whether you think still further developments should be made before finally relinquishing the enterprise. For myself, Tcannot undertake to find further capital for these purposes. If it is decided, therefore, to carry on the undertaking, the balance of the subscribed capital (2s. 6d. per share) will have to be called up to provide the necessary funds, I think I have now put before you all the facts which have led to our present unfortunate position, and 1 leave it to you to decide upon the evarse to be adopted under the A conversation followed, during which a general opinion was expressed that, in view of the large number of shareholders resident in China and elsewhere abroad, it would not be desirable to gw into volunt= wry liquidation until an opportunity had been afforded them of stating their views on the matter, The following resolution was therefore moved by the Chairman, seconded by Mr.
Major, and carried unanimously That the meeting do stand adjourned until 2 p.m, on Monday, the 14th day of May, 1893, at, the registered office of the any, 9, Fenchurch Avenue, London, s0'as to enable the shareholders fent in Dino and other places abroad to express their views."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.