The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-08-09 00:00:00

RICK ‘.111)3, 11.1. in the (lair.
• t a. to tile point of order, the Acting Di-
-niforth) re.Al the minutes of the het Court, whiell

Aft"

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1:1 rose, and Gentleorn would he aware that
lire tbri mee• ing havir.g beets detadeel it the pro-
,s the le..t oart, whieli had been read, he had but a 'co,
V.):111 to It would be within the ree..lle,l'on of aq,
'•.• -011 then ber,ee the meeting arm: out of the question
to the last meeting by the Directors, in which they stated
, the fonds, and certain eh tic;eneies, althotigh, in
. thare was at that time ahtralant Nods for coming
of the Company. It wnvil also be ticotee cd, that
agrerelale to th-• sle.td which regulated '11.4 proceeding,, the Dirce-
urs mt .tt erl; nn ''t_ Proprietors for :he ti tic Try watch appeared
n attach to that heinch a the (...ompany to which the account in
piedjui aod that the not making the call in question
why orelioate with the l'r quiet. is thonselses, as
witivan their in er:erenee the call ultra be mule. It was
ill that reap et, tbetetore, the Direc,ort were solicitous to
show a feeling of deference to the Propriita a, I; being th it
cash as well at their duty to act in evert- way th it could gist satis.
f Irina to tho Company, that thi had acqtticac d in the resolution
which hail b e- than submitted. At the same true the Directors
ea- c.ired i .s.•o the'r duty to s.a.e. that since the original meeting
iu July, having re-to- 'nitre e questt•ort in ..I1 i s b.;itrint,m, it ba•l
b.cn thattet adviszble to recommend to the rese o i. eting. of
p,opriet.es not to sus send the cell of 13.. Rd., ab eh, aeduedng
t'se amount of doerest declared psyable upo4 ea.h share, would
net amount to more than an aetaal payment of Cs., bat to let the
tatic t ke i:s coarse. lie felt bound to say that err ain alterations
r sell he nub situ which would be calculated to remote the
Frotane v in'erests of the Company, as will upon the it-tricotsr
point tliet before the Court, as upon others, and wiiich he was sure
%odd be en itled to Oeir approbation and approval. Those
alt.rations, however. wee rot yet matured, and therefore, in the
, -.rim. it constituted in additional reason why no lesrts3l inter.
.nee should take place in the alteration of are r
ot tie clauses of
the deed, it a rinse when other alteravans were c •nt7:::pluted. In
t, the opinion that the Mirrors had ii•ev, tint the call
atesuld be made. he was; sore it would it- obvious that he could
not Wei into further &lids: when the time came everything
•otild be fully explained ; and he felt astialled that whoa 141.4 t true
ehoold arrive, the Proprietors would Rod that the ttonfidence which
tl•er list reposed in the Directors had not been misplaced.
Mr. Pr.WAR said, OW before they came to the consideration of
ft: Resolution, he wished to pot one or two goes:ion. to the Chair.
tn. In the first Fleet, he wished to k;.ow it toe tutu of 13s. 6d.
ws •o be added to the colitis'.
CITAIR HAN replied in the aflirmitiie.
,!r. DEWAR —Anti to bear interest?
'f!se Cti.trim.ttc—Yes.
Mr. Dr to wished to keow if the debt due the Company to
June of 10,rii161. had since been paid, at least since the
1-2:1! July. at which time it was still owing.
Ctt Ale man that the principal part had been paid.
Mr. Dr wan—And To bad debts are included in that amount?
'l",e WI MAN—None.
Mr. Di:WAR said he would wish to ask (In reference to what had
r: ii from the Itepa:t). if the deed had been signed by every
Pr •ariet or; beeanse bt !nail a letter from a gentleman who was a
IA!! of live share., who stated that he had not 'signed the deed.
The titAl a MAN slit' lie believed he cculd explain the circurns
starlet to which allusion was made. According to the original pros
s tlletc acre a certain number of subscribers only, and they
boil nil sientd the original deed. For those, Itowevet, who had
come in since, a. stipvl !Quintal bill had by& drawn up, and they
were not i nmedistcly rerjuire.l to signed it, inasmuch as their
sep:.rare signatures wociu retying arcadditioaal and expensive

ccctlin

3taistr.t ~f (I'

their oi.it,i:.

tn :.r.nc

Han p
Kr. EtEleAtt wwbad t , kr.ew if the Chairman could state what
rum her of shares had been lost in consequence of the death or
b .nkrup:cy of the parties to whom they hsd been all.Ated.
The CHAIRMAN was not aware to what case the lion. Pro-
alluded; perhaps it wav that of Mt. thailsclimiitt.
Mr. Hawk* would take that as A case for inthrtnation.
The CHAIRMAN saki, that a ith reAatd to Mr. 001d1CIIRlith's
:we um, he hA -the satisfaction of stating that the Society would
hot inzAr the loss of a single sixpence.'
31r. DEwAtt observed, that it was a very al4rming considera-
tion, and one well worthy of the attention of the Innprietura, that
tiLy should not have any shares lost, seeing that the remaining
s'a,eholaers would be responsible.
The CHAIRMAN said he could assure the Ilonotirable Proprietor
Ow: proposals had been made which would liquidate the debt, in
the particular case which had been referred to.
!de. I)Ews,a wished to know if there was any power by which a
prortiemr could be compelled S. par any further call ?
The C AIRM me —Certainly.
Mr. 14:watt said that, thorn the Inquiries he had made, he felt
considerable doubts on the subject ; other Companies he knew had

not the poser.
The (..11A I a mAN—We have the power, and that upon the higheet
law authorities that can be obtained. With respect to its being
carried into execution, that was altogether a matter of discretion.
Mr. I)EWAR said, that haviag put the.e qeestione, which had
been answered with so much candour by the worthy CU:airman, he
would now come at once to the proposition. Upon the former
31e;ting of the Company lie attended, and he heel at that time
give» the Directors credit for the accounts which had been then
submitted. Ile hat done so upon their prima facie appearance of
correctness. because they could not he looked into in a moment ;
Let he was hound to say upon cxarrinatio:t, and he felt it to be his
itreerious duty to do so, that a greater delusion VMS never practised
upon the public than appeared in those accounts. By the particu-
lar account in (portion, it was stated that the balance of 29,0001.
cos responsible for 700,0001. of the six months previous; and also
remunsible fur returns, averages, and settlements, until the
whole iesurances upon 12,300,000/. had run off ; he must say, that
is such a statement there never way a grosser delusion practised
urn) the public. He did not mean to attribute this deception to
arty particular pereou err persons (although he could not but recol-
lect the Melt panegyric which had been paid to the Directors) be-
cause he could not say who it was that had made out the statement.
Ile was not aware at the time when these accounts were presented,
low it was that they were made up. But when he saw that
there wa. is rri.lity only a sum of 8,0001. outatatitling against
12,3e0,00/), so little did he understand it, that he came down to
eht. helve f the Company for information, and he wits bound to
.ay. that that inquiry at once convinced him, and it was his duty
lime to ewe it, that the maser of doing business at Lloyds and
itt the other public Insurance Companies, was totally different from
the: Pursued by that, the members of which he had now the honour
to eddies.. In all other pieces, whether " time or out of time,"
they took the whole premium of outstanding accounts, and be was
prepared to sly that was not too much. The Company, the pro.
prittoesof whom he was then addressing, had altogether 29,000 e,
'21,1100/. being to cover the amount of 700,0001. outstanding risks.
It wee true that some of those were South Sea whalers and East
India ships that were termed oat of time, but he would take upon
himself to say, that it would take 56,000/. to pay the outstanding
demands. De had had a:0 year; experience in underwriting, a
greet part of that time in writing for IS geadenan whose fortune
e :be equal to the whsle capital of the Company ; and upon that
experience Inc was bcurd to say, that he would not take their
to:teems off their hands, unless they could lesnre him an
...At:handl suns of 30,0001. as an inducement to do so. On
WOLITRIS it was, that he should consider it his duty to
s.lbe it a different proposition. According to the statements made,
sould uneeir that if there were premiums adequate there would
be a profit, but as far as he wan able to understand from 1123, in all
.:and ).nic.)of the description of the present, the amount of money
use hail tom so small as to do little more than pay their expenses.
Taking the averatee of seven years, with the exception of 1023,
which woe one of a peculiar character, premiums were higher at
p ',eta than as compared with former penuds t so far did he fear,
the,ch.re, that the Company's affairs were not built upon a rock, as
e.: he ':t tlesantwd by their worthy Chairman on a former occasion,
were, as he feared, built upon send. and would tall to
the retied, as time woulo too fatally prove. At that moment
the lull:pa-I ta-hd on the largest business with the smallest capi-
tal of any company in existence; for even many of the Irish corn-
-1 a •iee, which had been so much ridiculed, had double their
amount. With respect to the question that he bad put to the law
:rinser of the Company, at the former Meeting, as to the liability
or non-habil:Ay of the Shareholders, who had raid that they were
not liebl-.., even up to the suns of 5,1100,000/. the declared amount
t/ their capital, he could only say that he had had an opportunity
of speaking several times to the most eminent Counsel in the City,
on the sublect of venous covnpanies, end considered that whatever
':umber of shareholders eanurienced the business are liable. And
lie would nild a remarkable fret that came within his own know-
ledge, which was, that Mr. Preston would not sign a policy,
because he considered himself to be liable fur the wl:o!e of its pro-
ne:Y. In looking over the trust deed, it appeared to hires (31r.
Dewar) that they had no power to declare any dividend; there was
no profit, and therchwe he would contend, no dividend ought to be
pad ; and he wished particularly to draw the attention of the Meet-
togas to what ought to be the real capital on their present risks,
wilier he coneilieed ought to be fiX0001.• In his ()pillion the call of
13e. IM. would be highly injurious to the Company: it was true gen-
tierren rwld r her the call; but mold they do en if a war was to
:tree—end he would ray such a cite: matinee was impossible; they
would then find other ways of disposing of their money, and one
individual of property might be called upon to pay for all. There
was a eneumetaree in illustration of his argument, which he would
ma.ttets, rad which related to a Company which had lately been in
souse difficulty. It so happened that five of their Directors hap-
petted to be in town, and thee would have been put in prison at the
sun of a aliment on the Company. bad they not been able to have
eatudted the demand out of thehr own funds. If such was the case,
was hoot impotent to haves sufficient capital? It was not alone his
own opinion, but that of the Counsel whom he had consulted, that
the Company was board to have a capital of 230,0001.„ and that
tertemt weeid nit be one halfpenny too much. Seanerhing hal
been said 'Nett loan of interest ; but that was nothing to be coin.
Wined to their not having sufficient capital. Under theme circum-
stances he should propose a very different resolution to that whkh