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THE CORNISH TELEGRAPH - THURSDAY JUNE 27 1889


MELLANEAR - WINDING UP.

An extraordinary general meeting was held at the London offices on Thursday afternoon, for the purpose of winding up the company, Mr. Robert Kenty occupying the chair.

The Chairman said 'Gentlemen, we all know from the notice for what purpose we have assembled today. It is a very disagreeable purpose, but one that seems to admit of no control. When we have met here from time to time, and when fresh monies have been advanced, circumstances were very different from what they have since proved, and which we then reasonably expected. Amongst other things at that time we know that the price of copper was such as gave great encouragement for us. After all, we at one time, had no strong expectation of the mine becoming a profitable one, but we had reasonable expectation; and that was fulfilled; that the copper that we were extracting and could extract would go far towards paying the expenses of sinking the shaft so that we might prove more effectually the prospects for tin. That expectation was absolutely falsified by the unfortunate collapse in the copper market, copper having gone down to less than half its original price, and we were robbed not only of any profit (though it was small) but we were left at once in such a predicament that it would not even pay to take the copper ore out of the mine. Since that time circumstances seemed to have gone worse and worse, because the men when working could earn a small wage, though not a good one, but they have left, I believe, without an exception. They could not even earn an ordinary day's wages, owing to the price of copper; that put an end to the expectation of getting any copper; in fact, it would have been suicidal to have attempted to get any copper because every ton of copper raised only involved the Company in further loss. And that was not all our misfortune. It was always held out by Mr. Gilbert; and we had no reason to suppose that this opinion was otherwise than fair; that when the shaft had been sunk to a sufficient depth we should try and get under that portion of the ground which had been yielding a fair quantity of tin. It was a reasonable conjecture that if we went deeper, the increase would have continued. There, again, our disappointment has been extreme, for it has entirely falsified the expectation reasonably formed of it; that portion of the mine is now practically barren, and, therefore, we have not a single thing in the mine which will yield, I may say, a farthing. I do not think there is a single portion of the mine that will pay even a day's labour for getting out what is left. There is no alternative but to wind up. To carry on the mine, which some people think will some time or other be carried into effect by a new company, will require a large sum of money, and I have understood that the amount must not be less than £10,000 to £15,000. It is perfectly useless for us to attempt any such thing. This mine has been an extremely disappointing one. I have been a shareholder in it from the beginning. For a length of time we were paid excellent dividends and we hoped, as in other parts of Cornwall, that as the mine was developed and as the shafts and the workings were carried to a greater depth, that we would have done better. There we have been wholly disappointed, and you know to your cost, and I know to my cost, in a few years' working everything has gone wrong in the mine. It is not because there has been any fault in the working of the mine; there has been no fault that we, as directors, could find with those who have been more intimately acquainted with the operations there, but we all know that we cannot see into the depths of the earth, and so we worked and they worked upon the ordinary and reasonable conjecture of mining works, and we have been wholly disappointed. There seems to be nothing left but we come to a resolution at once to wind yp. We have no money to go on with. The vendors have met us very fairly, insomuch as they have agreed to discontinue the pumping, and they have also accepted the notice to give up the lease, and to save all unnecessary cost, which perhaps they might have put us to if they chose to exact the last farthing of their dues. As much as we all regret it, I see no other alternative but to accept the course which the directors recommend; namely, to close the works, and put the company upon liquidation.

The Chairman then moved that the company be wound up.

Mr. Wilde, in seconding the motion, said that if the price of copper had kept up anything like it was in the early days of the company paying dividends; when it was not so very high; they would have been able to pay dividends for several years longer than they did, and to have sunk the shaft without any fresh capital.

After a brief discussion the motion was adopted.