Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Wednesday 16 December 1908, page 9


TREASURE ISLAND.

AN EXPEDITION THAT FAILED.

BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS.

Sydney, December 15.

The Wheatsheaf expedition in search of treasure was investigated in the Bankruptcy Court to-day when a public examination took place in the matter of the estate of

G. J. W. Simons and W. J. Nield, trading | as Simons, Nield & Co.

G. J. W. Simons stated that he went to the Solomon Islands on August 18 in the ketch Wheatsheaf. The syndicate consisted of ten and there were ten £100 shares, about £500 being paid up. The syndicate was formed for the purpose of chartering a vessel and going down to the Solomon Islands to prove Captain Weaver's

claim to the island of Malaita. |

The Registrar This island which you i were going for was supposed to be full of minerals. Did you ever find it

The Witness-The representations made to us we found when we got there were false. As a matter of fact, the only excuse

offered by our informant was that there had been an earthquake which had altered the whole face of the country, and the place where he had been living had sunk. His other excuse was that the chief who had been his great friend when he was there had been dead two years, but from what we could gather this chief had been dead from five to ten years.

Continuing, the witness said Captain Weaver resigned while they were at the island. He was not paid anything. The witness went on the venture because he thought there was a possibility of making money out of it. Weaver represented that he was head chief, or king of the island, but when they got down they found he had not the ghost of a claim. The chief cause of the bankruptcy of the witness was insufficient capital and the excessive duties imposed upon their particular class of goods. .^____^_____^_