helm, if he had more time, or perhaps he was obsessed with delivering his grand vision himself. The company's board—made up as it was of Sandford (as Chairman), two of his sons, managers and close associates of Sandford— resolved to raise additional capital of £100,000 in the form of new £1 shares in June 1907, The company issued a prospectus—making no mention of profit or loss— in late September 1907, with 118,093 new shares on offer This would be the only the second raising of capital to be paid in cash; the other being £18,807 raised at the formation of the company in 1901. Most of the existing paid up shares had been issued to William Sandford, in exchange for assets that had been transferred to company ownership. Doubters later pointed to the risk of investing in an under-capitalised company, with a board controlled by Sandford, with the management run by Sandford, and in which the bulk of the already issued shares in the hands of Sandford himself—who stood to benefit greatly if the company obtained new capital—and to Sandford having taken recent decisions to buy assets for the company, from himself, on favourable terms. William Sandford Limited was a public company in name but was run more like a private family company. There was also a view that the raising was intended to get the bank out of its predicament, using money from the public to pay down the company's borrowings. Charles Hoskins applied for 10,000 of the shares but changed his mind when he saw the books of the company. There had been no real attempt made to interest large investors in taking up shares. Applications closed on 14 October 1907. The raising was a failure, with applications for only 18,599 shares—a significant portion were shares allocated to directors—and the money raised was returned to subscribers. The main commercial banking creditor, Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney, refused to lend more money by overdraft in October 1907. William Sandford Limited needed working capital (£25,000) just to continue operation and cash (£45,000) to complete the enhancements to the plant. It was apparent, by the end of November 1907, that the company was failing to meet deliveries under the Government's seven year iron and steel contract. The erection of an imported 24-inch mill, needed to roll rails, had yet to be completed. Sandford appealed to the N.S.W. Government for assistance. The