The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 89, 14 March 1877, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

Dußjsa the late sitting of the District Court the matter of t;Ue wipding-u.p, of tb,e l^ir Julius Y°B e j Company, pp r cupicd a most prorwioertf; pla.ce,, the bulk of tbe session, iu fact, baviog been taken up with cases springing directly front the liquidation of that unfortunate undertaking. Although, the prdceedirW, s,o far;, have vidt revested anj* tbjbg of a very extraordinary nature in tlje general conduct of the company, they have served to throw a good deal of light uppn the way in Wfhich. a ,certatoclksa at .ijaining ventures have been ut,BJiterM into existence on, this fjeld. The roaniier in which the share, list of. the company waa made up is insti'ucttve in a high degree, and ths lesaon whi;ch it has already taught will, no dou,bt, b§ remembered for s.orce time to come, The circumstances of the floating of the concern given briefly appear to have been somewhat as fol* lows :— The lease, which, afterwards became the property of the company, was purchased at Ruction for, we believe, £2 10s. The purchaser, in partnership with a> Bhai:ebrot;e p » w ,ho H^bseaoentlj became legal, manager of thie company, started to *' form a company." That 1 is to. say, b ( e travelled the district canyassjng lor pur.jh.asers, of the 16.00Q shares, yito which the company had been or was to be divided. In somo cases he succeeded in disposing of the shares at £5 each, and in others he seems to, have obtained either indefinite promises or refusal, but at all events a list of names representing the agreed shareholders ia the venture i* banded to the legs,} manager el,ect. A meetyij?; of the, shareholder^' k called; at which the clhief persons present appeared to have been the t#o individuals referred to Resolutions v?ere passed i appointing Directors, LegaJ,, j Auditors, &c., and auth.oriitrg the registration . of the cotDpaijy. The ; promoter^ of the company w,ertf both, . provided for, in a small way— the Qfte being elected f;o ike position, of, a paid director, and. tne. other to that of legaj mapager. *ln due time tfcye memorandum, of association was prepared, and the na,mes of the share* holders in posse were placed upon the deed, not by tb# shareholders, then*-! selvej, but simply by the legal mA,na» |ger, and the work of registration . w^as completed. A favorable report of the company's mine and the declaration, of registration having been published, the 1 nex;fc step w,as to. placemen to ytor%m ' the mm?, This appears to have been dope, and all, yf(enl on smpothly. for a mpntbiorjrliwo.nntil, a recovery oi the cavils made was sought by the legal manager, when it was found that about ball tbe so»e>l|ed> starejibld£rß r,epudiated the undertaking, aad declinjed to pay tbe. demand, made upon them. Thus the operations of the company were brought to, a standstill with a debt on the. undertaking of something, like £120, $he only avenue of escape is resorted totr-thp company is thrown, iatOvlicjuidatiotn, and now we have tha sequel in the scramble which has taken Wa^e to escape thelfcfc of eontritutofiea. Thj& list of fontfibutories. as it stanjds, at present is narrowed dow^n to something Ijke aix or eight persons, upon whom Will eyentually fall t&e entire liability o/ the company, as well as tbe coat/a of the winding-op, That many names w,ere. inserted uppn the list of original shareholders without the least authority or justification has been proved, but the persons so pjacednot having ta(ten r the proper steps in time to have fcheir names struck out, have made themselves liable, and must, therefore, stand by the result of tbe omjssion. As Judge Weston very properly remarked, the practice of substituting a list (4 names instead of the real signature, of the shareholders ia the, declaration is a most reprehensible one, and ought under no circumstances whatever to be permitted We have had occasion tq refer irequentjlj to tb,e J ; uliuj» togel case, and, our only reason for doing so is. that it illustrates in a.mps.t striking and, un« mistakeable manner the dangers which have to be guarded against in undertakinga of this kind. The experience acquired will no doubt prove dear to many, but if the lesspn is inculcated it wsill not fail in the end to, prove, beneficial \o the district. We bave already bad too many of the Julius Yogel stamp of case* on this. Held, and it' shareholders would only see the advantage of tbe vojuntary over tbe com- j puisory system of liquidation, we should bear a great deal less of them in the future.

Owing to ill health Mr Torley, photographer, has decided to close his studio, in Broadway, for a few days. Mr Voriey will probably re-ppen his, studio for a week before leaving fleefton, of which due notice will be given.

The proceedings of th* District Cqfut on Friday afternoon last trji^of^n etteadhißly somnolent charaoter, md the spirit of Mft«* pheus rested heafily Upon n^Qre than one gentleman present, who fc ordinarily accounted 11 a wide-awake customer." Messrs Bttftdil and Staite were engaged in a long and dry argument uppn the law of tresjspags. One learned gentleman who, w,as not eqgaged in the ease, t>ut Bitting at the barristers' table, could be seen with his head dangling over the back of his chair, the whereabouts of his | thoughts being fitfully indicated by a subdued . " silvery snore," whjch now and again broke ' he monotony of the proceedings. The Clerk !of the Court's head— or rather the head of the | Clerk of the Court— dropped languidly for | ward like " a big sunflower" ; but not all his spasmodic efforts could " shake off downy sleep,'' and finally he too drifted into the blissful Land of Nod. The officer of the Court for a time straggled manfully, but gradually the up'jerkings of " his heavy head" became less and. leaa, frequent, and finally the dulcet influence seized him holus-bolus, and leaning gratefully against the pannelling of the sench, he too indulged in a beautiful doze. But as an instance of the " ruling passion strojig in"— sleep, h,e would suddenly ,w.ake up and cry but " Silence," but it hap- , pe^ed on one or two opca^ns ths^t j.u,st a^ th,e instao^ he awoke and uttered his mandate there was. not a soul in the body of the Conrt, atd th,e graveyard stillness of the scene was broken only by the, measured voice of his Honor—the effect may be imagined, A little later on his Honor remarked th&t he thought he heard somebody yawning in the Court— and, said his ffonor, " it appears to come from somebody fitting very near me. If any of tb,e officers of the Court have had insufficient sleep it would perhaps be as well for them to retire a more convenient place." Xoi^ can bet there was some con* siderable wakefulneaa. on the premises about this perioji.

Although the re3u.lt of the, Ink.erman crushing has, go far, nQb resulted in anything like a sensational return, it may he taken now as an assured faot th^t the mine is payable, ar^d tha^ the i]inderta,kv>g on the whole is beyond all tlpnbt a remunerative one, It w,ill not be concealed thjftt a somewhat larger return was expected from tb,e appearance of the sjtone as it passed; from the. mine ; but making a fair allowance for ajl cir^utnstancest the yield is satisfactory; The quartz is being taken from the mine, by contract, and it can be readily understood that the contractors, being paid so much per ton, fat. all stone broken down but little care was exercised in its selection, and besides a fair margin must always be allowed for opening out a new mine. Until the crushing has b.een.compj^ted^ and a general cleaning up has been made nothing like an accurate estimate of the value, of the mine can, be arrived at. It ia satisfactory., how.ever, in the meantime to. be assured that the result will be payable.

The sittings of the District Court were con eluded, on Monday last, and his Honor left for Gleymputh, on Tuesday morning. Our Monday's report of the Court proceedings will opi pear in our next issue.

Complaints are made, by the business people of the Itiangab.ua* tba,t tbe present mail ar» rangemepts between Greymouth and BecftQn are fixe^ wi^i too much consideration for the former plac9, and with too little fpr.the latter. The rieefton mail closes in G,reymouth at 7.45, a.m., -md, leaves at 8 o'clock. The mail arrives in Qreymouth, w.e believe, at about 4 p.m daily. The Reefton side of the picture is, that foe mail reaches here between, 6 and 7 o'clock, p.m., and th.c mail closes at 10, p.m.— v.cry often only allowing two hours for the preparation of return correspondence, a time, which is. quite inadequate. The coach leaves, hereat ft a.m,., so thai^ thera is little or no chance p^ forwarding "missed letters " by the coach. Why cannot it be arranged that the coach should leave and the mails close, at each, place at the, same. bour?. Surety the residents, here have as much right toconsw. deration as those, of Qreymoujih. Half the ad,vantage of the daijy service, to R«efton, is lost to the business people here at present for the reasons stated, and a memorial, on the. subject to the Postmaster-.^ctteral is now, we learn, being prepared.

Mr. and, Mi's Cotterell bave, We understand, arranged to give another concert in, Reeftoa. the. date being B*ed for thp evenin| of Saturday next, St. Patrick's. Day.

As an instance of the process, employed by the Missionaries in.New Zealand in the early days to christianise the natives, the North Otago Times relates thafe a certain Bey,. Mr Wilson acquired in the days of the past, from the natives, of Opotiki, un^er a doubtful tenure, above 10,00<Xacres.of lan^. The land was of an, excellent, qttftl^y— \ptto the tenure. The purchase, money, or the censi deration given, was qna cow, one old plough' two pairs of blankets, an<| sundry bpttles o^ rum. The doubtful title was, however, vali^ dated by the Missionary's son, who, somehow oranpsaer, happened nob long ago to beeotpe one of the Land. Purchase Opmmiß^ionew under 0-overnment,

The loss by, the late flood in the Mq^aeka district is estimated at £3p,OQO< The Qtago, Guardian oomputoi the loss, on the Tver plains at between £35,0pp and £50000, It gays h et plain, presented a pitiable sight. The fields were covered with water, and hundreds of tons of grain have been swept down the river and carried oat to sea. On many farms the cr u p 3 were cut and stacked at the fcioio the rain commenood, and farmers were lopking forwark to a lucrative harvest. John Brown, one <?f the oldest settlers in Otago, and a resident in the Tuieri for 26 years, asgerts, that the flood has been two fpet higher than it has eye« been before. lor mifes tkere was nothing to be seen, but a clear sheet of water, with hero and, there tops of cabbage trees. At Grejtown the floo4 rose ten feet,

aid the water rose level with tbe platform at the railway station. The principal sufferer amping farmel* on ihe plains is James ShandJ, The whole of his crops are totally destroyed . 1200 sheep iof his are also drowned, and 45 head of oaftto. His loss has been put down at £3000. T^fMeadow's l^unk estate loa»s, over £3OOQj IfcnjU?, of r i4oooIt w*i thefcs«*rying^#aj of tl^a einban^ent near O.utram |hat dulall the miichief. :^»