The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-11 00:00:00

E!),t stourVib!:,t, Olpertnr.

gjuußDAy FTEMBER 11, 180.

TUN ALBERT LIFE ASEATANOM
COMPANY.

for H tft hut
Tho more the flisaistfons taihire ths Alhert i work -int ready money only, I
if Company is mired Into, the and then they would save a vast amount of tiffs. I
Le Aitaniscitca ipl I
Ocoee lieoolllde that that failure ought never I ery and peovent trickery and fraud,
to have ocenired ; hut It is painful to add that I Mr. Pries then addressed the meeting, He
the course, to be ;mowed by those who have ' said he looked neon all strikes as alike injurious
suffered yr ioi. heeninee certainly no clearer to masters. men, anti the trade, hut they had
from ihvestlsation. The ranges of the collapse bees ground down on much. Since 1838 they
itself were Weil, and they were all much of the j had hail " drops " amounting to 55 per cent-
-slthlo character' linti 'Bey perhaps be bummed up (shame). Many of the women previous to the
by saying, that unnecessary and extruvegant strike could only envn enough to pay for their
payments, were the cause of its oda. Maims a stallings and the nursing of their children, after
career of some thirty years, the Albert Life As. which they had to walk home emptv•handed.
sure:ice Co nipany absorbed eVera other more lint he hoped they had seen the lasi of their
or less—and generally lees— successful 10 tie struggles, for tint was the finest strike which
offices, and every such transaction was made the hml been the lust twenty years. He complimen-
()cession of paying lar,go sums ti some person or ted the women, because lie believed it was
other who effecter the absorption. No less than through then, that the strike continued in Dud-
twenty.tive gentlemen reeeiveil bonuses iu this leV. He hail had an interview that morning with
way, ant every post that was thus lost was COM. Mr. Piall, a gentleman nonnecteil largely with the
pensated for by a grout or money. A kinior nail trade, and a gentleman who endeavoured to
clerk, for example, would obtain £l5O for the do all lie could to benefit the people, physically
loss of his place, but gri itter and more import. as well Hq Illorally— (hear, hear). That gentle.
ant personages, would obtain larger sums. The man, with another master, hod drawn up in his
absorption either directly or indirectly for presence a list of prices imiler to the 1861 list,
sometimes already obsurbed offices would be alp whereby mon, women, and child would have a
sarhed a second time in the Albert—of twenty- 'wooer price for every kind of nail, from is tack
two eelllptillieg ee4t. the Albert some X280,0d0, to a spike --(hear, bear, and applause). This list
which was more than half its capital. It is no they were at that moment versus:ling the
secret that eertain persons vory largely profited ters to silo, end should they do an the strike
by this aliserliin, process. One gentleman, would he At an end. He had no disobt, they would
whose name has 'been prominently before the summed. beeense he knew Mr. Ball's honesty and
public, received a commiesion on pretninms paid straightforwardness. Mr. Ball had taken his
to the society, and every amalgamation thus (the smirker's) letter to the 7'imes, as well as his
lidded enormously to his income. As he is bey. own, and hail them printed for circulation among
ond the reach of earthly censure, we merely the trade, and this had done some good. By the
state officially-asserted filets when we mention, lath of the present month he hoped to say that
that this gentleman thus netted comtnissions the strike was over, but they must remember
‘vilich in successive yeses were .000, £3350, that the misters were anxious for them to be-
-600, £3.400, Mid MOM, Slid this in addition gin. and therefore the ode shonld basil or none.
to a handsome salevy. Another gentlennin re. There were iO,OOO men upon grilse ; and if they
ceived upwards of 08,460 for services during liii not all have the price, the strike would begin
the ennilgantation process in connection with egsin us fresh as possille. They mast not begin
five offices that were transferred bodily to the work until they heard from him (Mr. Price). He
Albert, the original policy holders having no would e.ll i iii ,'tin for 'l'nesday next. and then
voice in the matter. The Albert in fact, Ap. instruct them further about the 20s in the
peered detevieined di get Imainess at all hazards, pound.
I-fr at least the semblance of it, mid pitt extrav- The menting then terminated. as it had begun.
itgantly every Doe who brought this liminess. by singing a sacred hymn.
The agents commissions amounted to no less
than t 14,000. The gentlemen ieteresting themselves with
the new list are Mr. 11411 and Mr. Holmes and
It WAS het to be wondered at that an office we bolieve that they have received some esteem-
which apparently desired to ~,callow up as tintuy rage:neut. lint the resnit of thoir canvass will
other offices aa piiiisible--110 matter whether not be known (Jr is few days,
they were good, hod, or indifferent— should come
to grief, It is Said that the unfortunate Albert
List 081,000, between the years, 1862 and 1866,
and that in 1867-3 the compass* lost upwards of
a million sterling. Such facts are difficult to
understand, especially sten we hesr tuind
that throughout those years of disastrous loss,
the Albert was Iseteting of its business and 10)
Sneoess, That there must have been grievous
inismansgeitient somewhere cannot be distmted
----mistimliagnitient for the policy holders, the
very people for whose benefit the company was
profoi.ocliy started ; but it is eitiMUY
iinulomtmteil
that a few persona have made a good thing of
the general ealsruity. Where the fault by we
shall not attempt t.l hat it is
15.11 fmii
to see that thooi miseciogs, bay* houl,
wa, the pelioy•holders win Malthus lirlug lows
the sorefigAiiiig to tiny responsible parties. nor
can they demi& wlatt Is tile eliOrie to adnpl,
At present the iiffeire of this disastrous mummy
soma ti lie drifting t,words liquidation. Aid that
will, tinder the most favonralde circumstances,
be merely disaster following disaster. It hits
hsen celenloteil that the expenats a liquidation
wourt lie something like this: commissions,
00,000; law charges, 1;30,000 ; underselling
arrangements for division at least £15.000 ; so
thst the Albert ne a company would lie some
£65,000 wise off than at present. And, on the
other bend, if the company be reconstructed un-
der the most favourable eOilditiolol, there will
still be a considerable loes both to shareholders
and poliey-holders. But of the two evils the
latter appears to he the less. The case, as be-
tween the two (messes is, we think, fairly pat by
a correspondent who signs himself " One who
knows something of liquidation." He says :
" Are the policv-holdere nf the Albert to be the
lambs if the official liquidators ? For as far as
my experience goes, and as the records of the
Court of Chancery disclose, any one official liqui-
dator is in this respect as good us another, the
object of each ono being to make as much as
possible for himself. 14 advice to the policy
holders is to combine to save what might still
be made a safe and really prosperous institution,
as well as their own property loom utter ruin.
Eighty per cent. having been offered them, tsk-
ing the policies all round, upon the authority of
twa of the most eminent actuaries in Loudon,
the question, I suppose, arises, can more be ob-
tained, or is abetter offer on the whole, likely to
be made. If not. surely it is utter madness, and
forbodes ultimate and entire ruin, for the policy
holders ti continue this frantic agitation. Each
meeting seems to be led away by passion, and
every calm and salutary proposal scoffed at as if
it were the suggestion of the enemy." No one
who has rend the proceedings at the several
meetings which have been held will fail to see
that these remarks are well founded. There has
been severe loss, but the policy-holders 'Mould
look the facts fall in the face, and see whether
the proposed seheme of reconstruction is not la-
slide; hut the shareholders, too, must be pre-
pared to lessen the loss of the policy-holders as
much as possible, more especially as the share-
holders are more to blame for the failure of the
company than are the policy-holders, the latter
having had very little, if any control over the
career of office. Whatever bo the result of the
negociations that are pending, one lesson ought
to be learned, and that is that any life assurance
office where the constituent body, the policy-
holders, have no control over its affairs, is so far
a mistake. The policy-holders ought never to
be at the mercy of directors and shareholders.