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Temelong Meeting.

WHAT THE CHAIRMAN SAYS.

“THE RICH FRUIT OF THE COMING HARVEST.”

A GENERAL meeting of the Temelong Hydraulic Tin Mining Company (Lim.) was held to-day at noon in the offices of Messrs. Behn, Meyer & Co. (the general agents). Mr. Arnot Reid (Chairman of the Board) presided, and there were also present Messrs. Witthoefft and Robinson (directors) and a number of Shareholders including: Messrs. T. Scott, James, Cadell, Dittmar, Voraus, and others.

Mr. Janssen, as secretary, read the notice calling the meeting, and Mr. Reid said:

Mr. REID.

Gentlemen, - It is about 5 1/2 months since the Temelong Hydraulic Tin Mining Company, Limited, was floated, and we call this meeting in fulfilment of the statutory obligation to meet you within six months. The company was formed to mine tin in the district of Temelong in Upper Perak. We appointed Mr. Helms, the original concessionaire and a very large shareholder, as manager of Temelong, not because we believed him to have any expert knowledge of hydraulic tin mining, but because we knew him to be a man of wide experience in the general management of industrial undertakings in the Archipelago, and because in the opening up of new district a knowledge of the Malay tongue and of the Malay and Chinese character are most essential qualities. Our first business was to arrange for the laying of a hydraulic pipe line, and we proceeded to work with absolute confidence, because it is a principle of hydraulic mining that, if a property has been thoroughly prospected, the possibility of disappointing results is much less than in lode mining where veins are irregular and are subject to greater sudden change. Therefore, while in a lode tin mining company, of which I am a director, we proceed cautiously by spending only small sums on machinery, yet in this Temelong Company the conditions are different. We had in sanctioning at once an immediate capital outlay of $ 63,800 for a hydraulic pipe line. That expenditure sanctioned in the belief that the prospecting of Temelong had been exceptionally thorough, and of that opinion we are still. The contract for our pipe line with all fittings incidental thereto was placed with Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves & Co., who were the lowest tenderers. The contract price was $ 63,800, and I may tell you that the iron for the pipe line was bought in England some week before we gave them the contract, in their wise belief that they would get the contract, and on their sound judgement that if they did not get the contract from somebody else. The net results was that all the material was purchased and was sold to us before the rapid jump in the price of iron and labour at home, and, speaking broadly, I am quite satisfied that if we had to begin to-day to contract for a new pipe line at Temelong, we would require to pay $ 15,000 or $ 20,000 more than we are paying , and we would not get such rapid delivery as we are getting. The terms of our contract with Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves & Co. are that the first monitor shall be ready to be at work by the 20th of April and that the whole contract shall be completed by the 20th of July. I am not absolutely certain that these dates will be achieved. Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves & Co. are entitled in addition to their contract price to draw a bonus for every day that they have the monitors in operation previous to the contract time, and at one period it looked, because of the great expedition of work, as if they would have been glad to pay them. But there have arisen, not in Singapore but, on the spot some of those difficulties of labour and misunderstanding and of the general “cussedness” of things which belong to the East, and I gravely doubt whether the first monitor will be at work on the date named. On the other hand, I am quite sure that the date will not be greatly exceeded, and I feel it my duty to say that Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves & Co. have shown in these matters a discretion and energy which cannot be too highly commended. Questions of unexpected delay we hope to discuss amicably. When I see the enormous delay that has taken place in the laying of an electric installation at Raub, notwithstanding the wonderful energy and organizing power of my friend, Mr. Bibby, and when I note, as a Director of the Jelebu Mining & Trading Co., the fact that we have been at work for years in and opening a load and that our battery was not started until a year after the time that we originally expected, I can only say that, if Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves & Co. come very close to the dates of their contract, then the Temelong Hydraulic Tin Mining Co. will have achieved what for this part of the world will be a record. Now as touches actual mining, the two essential things to make provision for are the disposal of tailings and the arrangements for seeing that none of the tin is lost in the rush of water. To supervise these things we have engaged from Australia the services of Mr. Fowler, a gentleman of considerable experience in hydraulic work and tin mining in Australia, and we have also engaged the services of Mr. Tatlock who was, until we engaged him, an inspector in the service of the Malay States Government and who as an inspector has had ample opportunities for inspecting the existing successful hydraulic line that is at work in the Peninsula. Mr. Fowler will not arrive from Australia until the end of the current week (he arrives by this week‛s P. & O.), and Mr. Tatlock may not take up his appointment for a little while longer. But over the preliminary labour operations Mr. Helms is in charge, and by the time we get to win tin, Mr. Fowler and Mr. Tatlock will also be on the ground. As touches the question of the disposal of tailings, regarding which there have been rumors and, as I think, unnecessary although interesting argument, I can only say that in regard to this matter, I anticipate no difficulty. In correspondence between the Resident of Perak and myself, I have elicited the substantial fact that what the Perak Government require is that we shall allow no tailings to escape into the main rivers of Perak. With that demand on the part of the Perak Government I most heartily sympathize, for I would regard it as a deplorable thing if the Government of Perak were to allow us to silt up their navigable rivers. But happily we are in a valley through which runs merely a mountain stream, and before it debouches into a main river it has to pass through various sections of land, where it seems to me that the tailings can be deposited. Nor do I think that the conveyance of the tailings to the selected spots will involve any substantial outlay, since I hope and trust that they will be conveyed by the water power of our mountain stream, and that by a series of dams or otherwise we will arrest the tailings and will allow the pure waters of the mountain steam to flow to the main rivers beyond. The precise details of that scheme it is quite impossible for me at present to indicate, since it is for the purpose of having these details fixed that we have engaged the services of an expert from Australia. He must see the ground, he must give us his report, he must take local advice as to the quality of labour that can be obtained for damming the stream and for depositing the tailings. Yet all these things I regard as but the incidental difficulties of an enterprise, the equivalent of the points that meet us from day to day in our respective businesses. I ask you then, gentlemen, to believe that, during the 5 1/2 months that have elapsed since this company was floated, we who have directed it have bestowed upon it almost the same careful attention that we would have given to our own businesses. The Board now consists of Mr. Witthoefft, of Mr. Robinson, and of myself. We are all men experienced in the management of successful trading organizations, although no doubt in very different degrees of largeness, and since each of us has a local reputation which in its way is of value, we beg you to believe that your affairs will be managed with almost that amount of care and discretion that we devote to our own businesses. As for myself, I must qualify that by telling you that almost precisely four months from now, I expect to leave this Colony for good. But, even when I leave the Colony, I hope to retain some moderate interest in the Temelong Company; and although I may not be able to see with my eyes the fruition of the seed that I have sown, yet even from a distance I may hope to participate in what I believe will be the rich fruit of the coming harvest. Finally, gentlemen, I can only say that if there be any questions that any of you wish to ask, I will be pleased to attempt to answer them.

Mr. T Scott said the Chairman had given them a very encouraging speech in which he had set forth the future of the company. The directors had given much time and care to the company, which it was hoped, would continue a success now it was fairly started. They would then be on a fair road to reaping some of the harvest. He proposed that a vote of thanks be accorded, to the Chairman particularly, and to the other directors. This was carried unanimously and the meeting terminated.