The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS,

Presented at the General Meeting of Proprietors, held at the
Offices, on Thursday, the 15th of November, 1855 :
It is with renewed pleasure the Directors of the Waterloo Life
Assurance Company appear before the Shareholders upon this
the Fourth Annual Meeting, for the purpose of laying before
them a statement of the progress of the Company during the
year which has now closed.
The Directors have, in common with all promoters of com-
mercial undertakings, and with those whose anxious thoughts
are turned towards the social progress of their fellow-men, to
regret the large amount of attention which the all-absorbing
events of the War have attracted towards themselves. This, and
the depression occasioned by increased taxation and the great
Rnarcity of money, have tended materially to retard the progress
of Life Assurance during the pastftwelve mouths. Yet the con-
uLued prosperity of the Company admits of no doubt, and is a
cause of sincere congratulation ;—the large number added to the
list of Assurers is a sufficient indication that the " Waterloo"
retains its hold upon the public attention and respect, and is an
earnest that, with returning peace, a very considerable augmen-
tation of the number of those associated with us must follow, and
the results of our active and intelligent Agencies become even
more apparent.
Your Directors have, since the issue of their last annual
report, greatly increased the range of their operations by means
of public meetings held in Doncaster. Wakefield, Barnsley,
Kendal, and other influential and populous towns. This is a plan
which has been more fully developed by the " Waterloo," and
has hitherto drawn towards it, and the principles of Life Assu-
rance, a large amount of attention, and been found • most effi-
cient support to the Local Agencies established in the districts
visited. New and important Agencies have also been appointed
in other parts of the country, in addition to those previously an-
nounced in the Reports. Added to the efforts your Directors
have made to extend the business of the Company in various
parts of this country, by the means to which they have alluded.
they now contemplate transactions in the principal cities of
Europe, and have already made arrangements whereby the
Company will be fittingly represented in Berlin, Hamburgh,
Frankfort, and the northern parts of Germany ; and they assure
you that the greatest care will be taken in the establishment of
these agencies, which have been delayed until the "Waterloo "
had acquired a position to command an interest and attention
which its progress and principles justly warrant us in regarding
as its due. Nor have your Directors overlooked the important
milonial dependencies of Great Britain, the operations of the
Company extending to Sydney,Melbourne, Hobart-town, and the
Cape, with every prospect of their anticipations of success being
fully realised.
your Directors would now draw attention to the proceedings
of the past year; and, in order that the amount of business may
at once become apparent, they annex the following tabular state-
ment, viz.:—

repels. made to the Com-1
pony during the year ..

Sum Aseurd.
£151,0150

An. Inane.
£5,138

'Policies issued
Proposals accepted but
not yet completed I
Proposals declined
Proposals under consider-
ation

104,7;i0
20,800
14,750
10,760

TOTAL

0161,060

3,468
891
497

From this it appears that Four Hundred and Five Policies
have been hustled since the last Meeting, producing an Annual
Income of Three Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty-eight
Pounds; and that the average amount assured under each Po-
licy is Two Hundred and Fifty-eight Pounds.
By the Report last submitted, it was shown that the amount of
business done by the Company up to that date was as follows,

viL :-

No. Annual Income.
Number of Policies issued I,QUI producing 411,400
To which add the business
of the present year .... 405

3,458
1496 £14,858
And the result is that, notwithstanding the Agencies have been
limited to this country, in less than four years there have been
Issued 1,496 Policies, producing in the aggregate £14,858
per annum.
L should be particularly noticed in the statement here sub-
Alitted, that an unusually large proportion of the proposals

accepted have not as yet been taken up. This, while it strongly
indicates the pressure of the times, proves that but for the ina-
bility to meet the required pay meut the income of the "Waterloo"
would have been materially increased, and its number of com-
pleted Policies greatly enlarged.
Six Policies have lapsed by death in the course of the year,
assuring £1,200, which is very far below the number and
amount calculated upon. The following table exhibits the total
claims, as they have arisen in each year, up to the 30th Sep-
tember last:—

DATE.
First Year....
Second Year..
Third Year ..
Fourth Year..

INumber

of Lives
Assured.

Number Amount
of Paid.
D eatha.
2 2600
21,200
8 El,B
_O

203
603
1,091
1,496

The Directors avail themselves of this opportunity to draw
the attention of the Shareholders to a very important advantage
offered to Assurers in this Company, which provides that, after
seven annual payments on a whole term of Life Policy, they can
at any time, should they desire or be compelled to relinquish
future payments, receive a Paid-up Policy for an equitable sum,
thereby securing an absolute reversion.
The same care and economy which have hitherto characterised
the working of the Company have been observed during the past
year, and is shown in the statement of accounts duly audited,
in accordance with the Deed of Constitution, and now laid be-
fore you, and presented as part of this Report.
In pursuance of the provisions of the Deed of Settlement,
Joseph Bishop, Esq., and W. Beresford, Esq., are the retiring
Directors, and, being eligible, the Board of Directors recommend
their names to constitute the list for re-election upon this
occasion.
The Auditors likewise retiring are James Andrew Durham,
Esq., and Henry Nichols, Esq., who offer themselves, and are
also recommenaed, for re-election.
Your Directors advise that, for the present, the dividend be
not increased beyond the former rate of six per cent. (free of
income tax), and a dividend of six per cent. is hereby declared

accordingly.
From this Report it will be seen, that with the difficulties of
the past year pressing in every direction upon our efforts, those
efforts have yet materially availed us, and our success has be-
come enlarged and consolidated. The position of the "Waterloo"
is fully and firmly established; its more immediate and ex
tended prosperity must depend upon exertions which your Di-
rectors cannot absolutely control, but which they will atoll times
urge the Shareholders, the Assured, and the various Agents to
put forth. It should be a matter of pride with each to place the
" Waterloo" second to no office in its sphere of usefulness and
the extent of its operations. There is ample scope for the most
devoted exertion. The cause is a great one, tending to ameliorate
the condition of thousands, whom inattention to the provident
principles of Life Assurance would consign to dependence or
poverty ; and it should be borne in mind that every addition to
the number of the assured can cnly be regarded as an augmen-
tation of the sum of human happiness.
In conclusion, your Directors would most earnestly invite the
hearty co-operation of the large body comprising the Share-
holders and Assurers of the " Waterloo," as they feel that the
power exerted by individuals personally interested in the pro-
gress of the Company to which they have attached themselves is
the most efficient agency on which they can rely for working out
the design contemplated in its establishment. Every Share-
holder ought to regard the prosperity of the " Waterloo ' as de•
pendent upon his own personal influence and exertion, and a
constant subject of his attention. As the time approaches when
the first declaration of profits will he made, and the first bonus
placed to the credit of the Shareholder and the Assured, it be-
comes a matter of deeper interest to all that the connections of
the " Waterloo" should be more widely extended, and its busi-
ness transactions multiplied; personal consideration being here
so bound up with the general success of the corporation as to
make every effort on behalf of the Company conduce to indi-
vidual profit and private advantage.
Your Directors, while thus urging the claims of the Company
upon the attention of those whose prosperity must form a part
of its success, cannot but express their conviction that, notwith-
standing what has already been achieved, they are but at the
commencement of the great work contemplated in the formation
of this Company. With their more extended plans, scarcely yet
matured, they regard the present only as a new starting point,
from which their progress will be one of greater and more
striking success than any which have yet attendee their efforts.
With thin conviction they ask for that strength which the co-
operation of numbers can give them, to realise for the " Water-
loo " a just claim upon public attention, and to effect that more
thorough development of the principles of Life Assurance, which
will become apparent when the appropriation of a portion of its
profits is applied to works of general utility and beneficence;
and the union of pecuniary advantage with the secure founda-
tion of designs of a strictly philanthropic and educational cha-
racter is shown to be consistent, and the most certain mode of
arousing that sympathy and attention which the important pur-
poses of Life Assurance pre-eminently merit.
JOSEPH BISHOP, Chairman.

- - - •
IN .47...
.... I 4.' 7 4. ...•
... d
° -2 4 0 ° Amount -..:go.nd 01g r 1 a
.0 p.. a ~,
Name of Bank. 1 v x -,c g ti. of 3r, s
2`g Cil 14) l'U Deposits ;5-4. -:F.:4
- 11. 5Et ... 4 4A t.
4 4: p.,'-.0 .e IN
CD
•--- ....."-- - --.--- ••••--- --- -
49 S i
LnAWstranstr 1854 20 49 145) ti 8,166,553 134,526 16
Lon.Joint•stek. 1936 10 34 240 14, 6,134,238 158,373:284 4.,,
Un.Bk.of Loud. 1899 10 31 210 l.ci. 8,363,460 120,000 20 ~,V
Lou. A County 1339 20 41 105 I ,y) 4,012.223 109,719,12 T.,
Com. B. of Lou. 1840 20 81 55) "" 1,317,554 66,109.10
Roy. Brit. Bank 1949 150 SO par 951,658 13.7941.. 6 ""
Total .... 413 if9161159e,521