HOMEWARD BOUND COMPANY.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 2 March 1881, Page 2

HOMEWARD BOUND COMPANY.

■ ■:■ ■ : . ' ♦ ' Half? Yearly? Meeting. ' r rr The half-yearly meeting? of flie^share' holders of the above company, was held at the office of the manager, Mr Thomas Lee, on Monday evening last. Shareholders were present, either personally or bjr proxy, to/ the 1 number ro|> 11,850, " ' '/"' / V^' Mr Davies was vote i to the chair, and read the report of the retiring directory,as also the balance-sheet for the past half-year, which showed a credit b'ala^ife': of £80 odd, which however, was subject to some small deduction on account of currentMiabilities. The report and balance-sheet having been receive.^ , /?J '■>£ t „ -.^ Mr G. W. Moss said,n that on benalf of himself and several Greymouth share* holders, he desired to express his dissatisfaction at the mannei in which 5,000 of the shares of the company had been disposed of. -On the 21st December, a meeting of "SnarebblclWs 1 waif 5 held, -at which it was decided to leave tbe disposal of the shares to tbe directors. That meeting be believed to have been an illegal one, as shareholders had taken part in the proceedings who were at the time in arrears with their calls. Further that at the directors meeting at which it was decided to dispose of the shares, one of the directors was also in arrears for calls. But apart from these facts he held that the method, of, .disposing of the: shares was an' utterly 'bad one/ and' calculated to shake the confidence of absent shareholders. For two or three directors to sit in itn illegal meeting and dispose of a fifth of tbe entire company in what ! be could not but characterise as an underhand manner, was suspicious on the face of it. He did not wish to impute that there wos anything really bad in the act, but tbe way in which it was done made it look bad. Tbe fact that the i shares were disposed of without competition ; that no notice of tbe sale' was given, and that absent shareholders were denied all opportunity of taking up the shares naturally created a fe.eling of distrust. The whole thing looked as if it was done in the interest of a favoured few, and he thought it was a pity for Ihe field that anything should be done to allow such a feeling to get abroad. He admitted that in general confidence was felt in tbe manner in which outside interests were treated in Reefton, but he regretted that in this instance a contrary feeling had been evoked. He con'd tell the company that at the very time that those 5 000 shares were disposed of- at 6d upon the private offer of one man in Eeefton, Tbe Greymouth shareholders knew nothing of the sale until after it had been effected. It was stated in tbe Innngabui Herald that tbe shares had been allotted pro rata, and relying upon the truth of that statement no Uneasiness was felt, but they subsequently found tbat that report was absolutely untrue, and that no attempt had been made I y the directors to contradict. it.! „-Tbis, : of itself, looked bad, and made the whole transaction look still more unsatisfactory. However, he did not so much complain for himself on account of the direct loss, but be regretted tbat course had been taken because of the bad impression it had created, > : ' The Chairman pointed out that Mr Moss was in error in stating that a shareholder and a director had voted at meetings when not qualified so to do.

He found upon reference to the minutes of the particular meetings referred to, that the persons whose names bad been meutioned as in arrears were at the time creditors of the company, and that accounts had been passed to them covering the indebtedness. Mr Moss still held that the whole transnetion wss an unsatisfactory one. The shares had been sold privately con* siderably under the market value, do notice of the sale or intention had ever been given to the shareholders, and the only intimation absentees received was a •false report in the Injmgahua Herald, which none of the directors took the trouble to correct. Mr M'Quillan said that at the time the shares- were sold to Mr Gorrie -they were afraid he would not complete the trans* fer, because they considered the figure above, .the -market rate of the shares: He (J\|r/M ; Quillan) bad fiot a quar^er«|inare^ in the company about the same time from a Greymouth man for nothing, and the shares could be got in Reefton at the same time for nothing. Mr Lahman said be would like to know fr %*oTranothing MrflM^lian- oo^Ht^ae shares at ,61!.* ■ ' \. ? Mr Trennery sa?^ as a director of the company he bad be^n spoken to as t'dNhe disposal of the shajies. Prior to the meeting at which it waS decided to place the forfeited shares in-] the hands of the directors for disposal, Mr Davios spoke to hi|n on the subject, suggesting that it #b»ld be better Col place the shares in the Dunedin market, |nd allow men of means to take them up, ihan to offer them in Reefton, because in the latter case small holders of inadequate means would get possession of tliem and perhaps be unable to pay their calls. iWith that suggestion he (Mr Trennery) concurred, and voted for the resblut ; on giving the ■directors authority to dispose of them. He did so purely on the understanding that the shares would be placed on the Dunedin market, -but at a meeting of directors held directly after, at which he was not present, and received no intimation.of t|ie r natar| of the^businessto he tranWteH, it WsV decided to sell the shares at the private ofler of Mr Gorrie. He did not blame the purchaser, who was quite justified in making ss much as be could, but as soon as he heard of tha transaction, he ai once came down flnd, told (he other directors what he thought' of it. He regarded the whole transaction as a breach of faith, and a wrong to the general body of shareholders. Had xhjß, shares been? offered in ; Dunedin, as he was led to believe they would, be should have been quite satisfied whatever they brought* buttbdisposs of them 10-» cally, without competition, and without first of all giving existing shareholders a chance, of taking them up, was, to say the least of it a nigbly improper transaction, and made to look so much worse by the fact that many of the same shares were subsequently transferred to the friends of the directors. :The. 'Chairman ' thought that npthinft would ever have been said about the pro* ceeding but for the fact of the shares goiDg up. At tbe time of the sale to Mr Gorrie 6d could not be got for the shares. I Mr Lahman was prepared to say that 'at the time of the sale the shares could have been sold in Greymouth at Is 6d. and Mr Hunter, had a commission out to buy at Is. At all events the Greymouth shareholders would lake the matter to the Supreme ; Court to test the legality 6f the sale. > : ' ;. Mr Moss did not desire to see any threat held out, but he could not avoid expressing bis strong disapproval at the whole character of tbe transaction ; he blamed the sale only, and wished merely to have his protest against it placed on record. The shareholders down country had been deceived, first by the sale and lastly by the missstatement in tbe Inangahua Herald, and tbe fact of that misstate* ment being allowed to go uncorrected left it to be inferred that it was part of tbe transaction. Mr Trennery said that as no reporter was present at the meeting, the information must have been furnished by some person who was at tbe meeting. The Chairman and others declared that they had never seen the paragraph in question. Some further discussion took place of a like nature in which several of tbe shareholders present took part. Mr Byrne then moved and Mr Breen seconded that the report and balance* sheet be adopted. Mr Moss moved as an amendment that the report and balance-sheet being un» satisfactory to the general body of share* Lolders, be not adopted. Messrs Moss, Trennery, and Lahman, representing 3150 shares, yoted for the amendment, nnd Messrs Davies Love, M'Quillan, Beeche, Byrne, Breen, Bowman, and Gcrrie, representing 8,700 shares, again?t. The amendment was therefore .declared ..lost, and. the original moh'on was put and carried. The meeting then adjourned.