human
You mean it is a certainty for me?
gpt
I mean this, he said,
human
And my duties?
gpt
Attendance, regular attendance at the meetings of the company. On those occasions I shall want you to take the chair, read the report of the manager, if there is one to hand, make the statement of the affairs of the company, and congratulate the shareholders.
human
Or condole?
gpt
I hope not. I should also ask you to immediately approach Lord Abbotsworthy, and ask him to be on the board. His is the other name I mentioned.
human
Whatever do you want Tom Abbotsworthy for?
gpt
For much the same reason as I want you. He is already an earl--he will be a duke. Dear me, if I was not a man of business I should choose to be a duke.
human
It is your own concern, he said.
gpt
I will ask him with pleasure, and I think very probably he will consent. Oddly enough, he and I were talking about this sudden interest in West Australia only yesterday morning.
human
I think that many other people will be talking of it before long,
gpt
I consent,
human
I think you will find it worth your while, he said.
gpt
And now, Lord Conybeare, there is another point. In the working of a big scheme like this--for, I assure you, this is no cottage-garden affair--there is, as you may imagine, an enormous deal of business. Somebody has to be responsible for, or, at any rate, to sanction, all that is done. Whether we put up fresh stamps, or whether we decide to use the cyanide process for tailings, or sink a deep level, or abandon a vein, or use the sulphide reduction, to take only a few obvious instances, somebody has to be able to answer all questions, difficult ones sometimes, possibly even awkward ones. Now, are you willing to go into all this, or not? If you wish to have a voice in such matters you must go into it. On that I insist. I hear you are a first-rate authority on chemical manures--a most absorbing subject, I am sure. Are you willing to learn as much about mines? On the other hand, it is open to you and Lord Abbotsworthy to leave the whole working of such affairs to me and certain business men whom I may appoint. But, having left it, you leave it altogether. You will have no right of being consulted at all about technical points unless you will make them your study. If you decide to leave these things to those whose life has been passed in them, good. You put implicit confidence in them, and if required, you will say so, honestly, at the meetings. If, on the other hand, you wish to have a voice in technical affairs, your voice must be justified. You must make mines, technically, your study. You must go out and see mines. You must acquire, not a superficial, but a thorough knowledge of them. You must be able to form some estimate of what relation one ounce of gold to the ton bears to the cost of working, and the capital on which such a yield will pay. Now which? Choose!
human
Which do you advise?
gpt
I cannot undertake to advise you. I have merely given you the data of your choice, and I can do no more.
human
Then spare me details,
gpt
I think you are wise, he said,