PRINCIPAL SOUTH AFRICAN MINES 309
mean
three million carats annually. At that time the company was considering
additions to the plant at an estimated cost of £300,000. That equipment
would enable the mine to handle 45,000 loads of blue a day.
Under
the ordinance of 1903, which was put through when the Premier people
had little influence with the Parliament and received scant
consideration, the Transvaal Government receives six-tenths, and the
shareholders four-tenths of the profits, after the company has first
recouped itself for capital outlay on development and plant. Since the
start, to October 31, 1908, this outlay has been large, amounting to no
less a sum than £1,413,666, compared with which the initial capital of
£80,000 is small.
Although
the government takes sixty per cent, of the net profits, the balance
pays enormous dividends to the stockholders. The net earnings of the
mine for the first year ending October 31, 1903, were £102,863. The
year following they were £667,738. In other words, the net earnings for
the second year of the mine's existence, were more than eight times
the amount of its entire capital stock. These profits were used in
further developments. In the five years since, the profits have
averaged over £750,000 per annum. The diamonds produced in the three
years, 1906, 1907 and 1908 averaged over $1,500,000 per annum. From
1902 to 1908, 20,-000,000 loads of " blue " were washed. The company's
share from the sale of the Cullinan diamond according to the directors'
report of February 25, 1908, was £116,-682.
The present company was floated as " The Premier Transvaal Mining Company, Ltd.," with a capital of
