The National Register.
London, England, 1818-09-28 00:00:00

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kingdeen to the empire at low fortonateily better
witierstoo .1 than formerly. Self iuferiat, ittilependc.aly cf
points the wisdom of a liberal and enl ghtened eon-
tinct towards bur.—Coo long hus au opposite conduct male
Deland a soiree of vreal.ness i:sstead cf strewth t., Great
Witain.—Two of these cattle were also sold to blr.Seol, of
t ireenrow, and six are to le sent into Sumersetstiire, where
the Derma stook is in high repute. to e.trly math+ ily there
is no iloicit of their saperiQiity, and It I. NV gl•Iltral upiuiun
hal the steer will flat be foiind inferilr to usher breeds in
the yoke.
The present season Wispily presents its with the earliest
h• in memory. The vain will be good, but it is touch
he eiTtebended that
rreo throitglicait the island will
be fir ehort• of an avero.;,n produce--the green crops are
somas/ad backward, yet there is reasonable groom' to &relieve
they will lie of tolerable weight in the norther districts ;
bet the accounts of the hay and turnips in the southern
-parts ate very diet:ries& Probably, however, the vegetation
may this year coil! iiine longer than usual, which *id be a
great relief iv the winter food. Whitt every benevolent tttitua
stout unite ih I: .111111 e that tiny part of the einyite should
'atter, consultation is derived by the appear:meets: almailtince
*Writ tilts ttitentry ealsibits. The deniald fur Stgricultural
lacalnec lea t ha great, mei it may be pit:mated that nevelt
nuy be :wares) for the supply olhodi eatremilles of the king.

The rtritlunt nutv stated that Fcl.t cal!ed on to
repeat resuark ssitich bed: td haute nJil ovvaaton to to Ike—
Out It rer,uld he /Nighty conducive to the iittereats and hap-
p.itess of bulls olla4lers and servauti einidu)td in husbandry,
.taeir 1:ore attention paid to csiiirdielar.
. .

Cm hiring maie servants the masters' attention it too ex-
clusively directed to,the anterior of dm person and mescal:is
stten.^,tl► be may be eappt•ted to possess, with little or uo
eatiptei, an ~J perhaps regal(' to his ptcvistis moral con.
sleet ; forgetting the eattV/Ue in those whoa s see.
vices are- performed Croat a cottfulons discharge of their duty,
falticli they feel they have uo richt to neglect, %dupe conduct
is anifortuly governed by principles of honesty and int,grity,
and these who work Duly svkile they ate a atelted. Good
mactere May, generally speaking, make good servants—to
possess suck treasures It it iticunshent op employers-to deserve
them.

I:OrrObOratiOn of the Milt of the IMAIIII which 'adored
the toast, the President had the honour to glve, before the.!
c onysity quitted the Half " oiled lanai/111h make good
tenants"—Tlie cup destined by this Society for the best
niviai,sed farm k ;:,iven to Mr. Wilson, at St. Bees. and teitaut
to Mr. Fox. 'This worthy landlors!, by feroeneanee. Mite!.
genet', and eniinisraremeist. supported his meritorious tenant
thruligh the recent trying times, which ali• have so severely
Providence his blessed his honest code,' yours, :mil Ivs
pi silent crops promise to reward Isis arrinnu.: .0 rogg:e, and to
requite Isis gene rots hinslord. Although Ise 1,41 I.ot, the
privilege of a lease, yen his exertions are unabated, ars' ..4•01
• spititie Mtn to the So-lety's reward fey the he,,t inaoagrit tarot
in Inc c sum y. In thus dilesiniiiisting, the. Society is much
indebted to use sieved., Ist selecting for this office, It was
imi:urtaiit to the Hie the most experienced and most compe-
tent to secure *just and proper derision, for rewarding Use
ut 3st lit awl desensitise individual. On a fs'streoecittlen might
is not be ativantageons to ars:iciate with such judges an equal
number of dui wars/ farmers that could he selected, in order
that such pa, ties might h.sve ao opportunity or romintsnicating
ttoti of seems what is Coned en amen:l,oo.e, anti by concur.
rim; in revi aids of tl:•.• Society, bee me and rotate
valid d ties tier those benefit.; to Advantages capable of being
derilc 1 from good hits Irmdry.
's'ae Presiilent anaotniec I 'Ail: Le 1.!1.: Pic 11011 r of in.

specting the .11:Nei:de:I .14 rettlit is :1 St.::ety at the Alf. of
I lointe. The spirit and i;:telligeti that
• Society, and for-wbieh it is so reiriar,..o_,e, het e prottcee I
appearances that excite, toll ileproveitionts that command,
• .intlnattant, owns all veto have had the ,;r• ititicat ion of inspect.
ing them. Whatever may have been 01)%er veil as exertioos sn
the Schoosc farm this year, toe President trusted they have
merited the approbatiee of :he meeting. •The crops of graia
tire tolerably good—the rex' clovers ttiost• promising—the
cooksfoot pastures favourable--the potitme estop most lostiri-
aitt—the field of LJ arises was dressed wills 50Jo
earls of dung—as an object or admiration to the eye of the
sterieulturist, it is said to he entitled to merit, hot it is no
ciaint en otters For imitation. 'lle enure of potatoes on a
event scale is ruinous to farmers. and oitaiit to he practised
but in the vicinity of large towns, whine maintra can ad.
vantageously be ohtnines:. The en.teitsi ye scale on which
potatoes cultivated must he a gt eat injury to the best hits-
( s; ry of the county. With re•pect to the turnip :rop, though
cvidently,iii some spots, of several growths, conseruent on
the season, it is as clean as a tnriners ere coniit wish, though
not so equal or weighty as in former yems. The sixty acres
of turnips front the asliesof burnt clay, 'ft:nigh certainly much
inferior to those from the farm-yard or other manure, are yet
a g:cat and important resource, wherever they can be fed
by sheep or cattle ; as a good crop of grain may reason-
calcu!ated on as a sneceecling crop. Burnt clay judi-
ciously disposed of may become a great resource. The re-
elaiming and bringing 309 acres of waste land into tillage and
under crop in so expeditions a manner, must have been a
s••tirce of infinite plcasnre to every one interested in rural
Improvements—the national advantage is great—the local
benefit lies been important, in providing employment for
many who must otherwise have become burthensume to the
• public, though high in health and possessing full powers to
earn a sit bsisten cr.
The President, after a very appropriate and Impressive
address, coocluded by 'whiz, that other ditties of an itnpera-
live nature would tlentooLl his absence, and fer a longer
period than lie could wish ; that, though personally absent,
1.-is (fear; and mind would still be with the associated (tient',
he addressed, whom he should indeed ill requin- were he to
sutler his agricultural operations to become less entitled to
their approbation Wats on the present occasion—or to be less
regarded as worthy of Imitation by those interested in the
generel husbandry of die county, or promoting the comforts
and happiness of the people—for to them he was highly in-
debted—front them he derived the honour of his public
station, unalloyed by aristocratical combination. As the
servant of lite people he should ever be ready to attend their
coinrowt,lk, and, to the hest of his judgment and power,
honestly and eonscietitiously discharge those duties confided
tit Isla extut.ttutt.

A society is forming among naval officers, by means of snh-
set iptiot., fur the pin pu.e nt matling good to each other well
loses As may be siisiAined by ninny/leek. In the army, an)
olficer emieii ked, and ineoting with •110, in:sriiefitite, has an
. I anee Made him by Government ; while in the navy the
I 114 Vt! Cs'Vtl el 4 bunilar indulgence i yet it IS
5,,j bow act AL% v.. 411 Cy 141.1

r Tin" NAstitt2tAit,

NORWICH UNION FIR E ;Ad: LIFE s44i.

Friday a general meeting of the insurers at the Nor-
wich Union Fir,: :nut Life OMee was held at the thy
of Lonslon Tavern, Ilishopsg,ate-street, the the purl/oft
of receiving the report of the committee 'appointed on
the lath of July last_ to investigate the charges made
against that offieo. 'lle meeting was stotunoned nt
o'clock, at which hour there appeare3 a very numerous
and a very respectable attiodauce of Ilt.mlx.trs. ,kbout
half-pau .1 the connuittee ofinlury enttztxl the. room,
when _ _

Mr. Alderman Patteson (of I`4orwich) preposed Thos.
Bensley, Esq. to the chair. This was uaateimously
agreed to, and
Mr. Bt;risleyhetiug taken the chair, observed, that
the motion was made against his will ; he should, how.
ever, exert himself to diecherge the duties which it
irapored upon him,
It was theta wend that the report of •the committee
should be read, which being carried in the affirmative,
F. A. Clarke was rquested to road it.
The report was extremelylung, and occupied a con-
Siderahle tune in the:reading.
It began,by stating the heads into which it was Ili-.
vide& These wens chiefly—the appointincat of the
committee; the Claims on the S wiety tae Constitu-
tion of the Society ; the State of the Life t)epartment :
State of the -Fire Depertment ; the Fuals ; Az;,:nts ;
GeueralTtemarks and an Appendix.
l'he Appointment qf Coninktee.—Under head'
the report stated, that in comictioene:: of the -several'
complaints from many individuals alleging that they:
had nut been dealt tiiirly with by the Society, that their
claims for compensation for losses by fire, &c. were often
delayed, and in some instances altogether refused, X
meeting of insurers was held some tine back at the
George and Vulture -Tavern ; at which meeting a com-
mittee was appointed to inquire into thecomplaints, and,
to report thereupon. As s lea as some of the proceed-
ings of that committee were known, anuther meeting'
was held at the York Hotel, Bridge-street, on the 27th
of July last, where another committee was appointed
fur the •same purpose, and for reporting on the- nature
and causes of the abuses to a general meetiag.
The Claims u,ogn the Society.--These the report di-
vided into three classes ; the first consisting of .cases not
hitherto laid before the public; the second of cases not
satielletorily suljustel;-and the third of cuss e of litiga-
tion.

7'ke ConstaNaw. of th., S2ciey—Unaer which it con..
siderci sepanaely, its err final deeds of settlement, and
the nature of the duties of several of its principal offi-
cers. The committee, it observed, though folly satis-
fied that great alterations and additions were called for
in the constitution and inanagetnent el the Society, bad
not yet sufficiently considered the subject, su.as to point
out the precise nature of those alterations.
The Fire Depiiiimene.-11ntler tllis.head was given
tlet:il of the ichole sums received for premiums, &c.
and of those expended in compensation for Imes,
agencies, &c front the foundatien of the Society in 1797,
up to the present year. The grand totals of these
were--

Amount cf Premiums received sinre 1797 £404,675 15 6
That of •tliii shin there had been paid, for losses
by fire agencies, sta
Leaving a balance of
From tuts were to be deducted several smaller
ittus, fur various r arpOSeS connected with the
in:mac:went ; and there remained a sum in the
hands of the Sreiety, as a fire•l'und, of 108,197 0 0
This statement, as applying to the fire-fund, the
committee hoped would be considered satisfactory,
though it fell short of the 50 per cent. which 'had been
first anticipated. The average rate of profit had
been
,for the three periods of seven years each, as fol-
lows :—For the first, the profit was at an average 184
per cent. ; for the second, 53 ; and fur the third, .29
per cent. making in the whole period of 21 years, alter
all deductions of every kind, an average profit of 334
per cent. The reason why the last seven years were
not, oil the average, as productive PS the preceding,
might in some degree be attributed to the great losses
by fire in 1817, a number of which were caused by
incendiaries. There were, in that year, three convic-
tions of incendiaries, and one for a fraud, on which tne
insurance• was 20,0001.

The Life Department was the next head to which
the committee called the attention of the meeting, and
from this part of their report it appeared, that there had
been received for premiums, annuitirs, endowments,
&c. up to the year 1814, the sum of
£393,,343 11 1
Out of which there had been paid 136142 11 4

• Leaving a balance of 1:257,00 19 9
After the most mature consideration of this department,
the committee expressed the highest satisfaction ut its
results. Its profits were such us were. sufficient to re-
insure the whole of' their risks in the Equitable Office,
the rates of which were higher. The report then
went into a statement of the causes why this di.port-
ment had so tvell succeedtxl. Among those it not Le,l
the active and diiigent conduct of the amen: s, Vhf)
were particularly careful in examining those whom
insured. If pointed out the good e&cts of having of:i-

T

sea,
'ie. teve;consebe wiping tne risks of life insuranceswould he s,) reach leeemed ; and concluded this branch
by stating, that ou/y ore: instance of a life. iosuraneet
had been disputed at law in the last l 0 years. it next
went into u review t# 'the edvaeeiges of insuring in the
Norwich ljaitin compared with those in the Equitahl e
which it stated to be the greatest of all the other See
.eieties. The comparison, it observed, the committee
• wore not only p.ovokta( bet foreed to make. This tram.
.parison went into a matte detail ; from which it wait
intend:AA° be proved that the Norwich had the sue
periority over the Equitable in every respect. . .
The Funds of the Society were next touched upon..;
these were stated to have been in March last, the sent
-el 366,0371. Vs Cr. from which, however, some vet?
' small deduction~ were to be made fbr losses since. .Thie
sum consisted of verions descriptions of property, such
as mortgages, sh;:s rain the Southwark bridge, and sever:::
kinds of steck, the great proportion of which mood le
the name of Thomas Biguold, Nen. F. q, but ell with. a
chase of trust. The liens head of the report was, .
Agencies—upon winch it was ohserved, that tnnay
agents had not given any security, and of many others
the security given was very inadequate to the tees:.
coulided ; and though .the ,loss sustained from' these
circumstances was comperatively very trifling, pull
though in general the agents were a very resiectuble
body of men, yet the evil wassone which ought to be
immediately reviedied. The committee bud before
stated, that a great many of the securities mud. stook
were in the name of Thomas Bignold, son., Esq..; they
now suggested the propriety of having them transferred
to trusteesrani in this the Board of Directors had fully
concurred. •When. Mr. Bignold was applied to on the
subject, he said that he should be ready to do any thing
which the Directors bed authority to hommand, .If ,it
were for the interest of theaucietYs--an answer. . ifir
the committee did not think at all satislhetney. e. he
committee felt it their duty to state, that there were
very great defects in the deeds of es:dement, which
should be corrected us speedily-as possible , and ' With
that view agaia pressed the -necessity or a committee
continuing to . investigate,• for the, purpese of devisisg
the necessary remedies. The report then went oa to
state, that the committee would have felt it a very gra-
tifying task to be able to exonerate :my eflisev of the
sesiety freer any charges against him, and partiesiarly
Mr. Bignold, ten. ; bet they felt obliged W state, that
the immediate retiree:els of that gentletasie frem 1.,;:s
, office of secretary was indispensably necessary for the
future welfhre of the institution. de conciusion, the
report stated it to be the cenvictieu of the committee,
that the society, by a rareful management and an alter..
ation of the constitutions, bade fair to lithe itself to that
prosperity which its warmest supporters could wish..
This report, which was frequently interrelated by
pheelite, was at its conelucion received, with very Tong
and general approbatian.
Mr. Patteson rose to move that the report now read
be received, adopted, and ordered to he printed and
tributed among the subscribers. . .
Mr. Alderman Thorp, on presenting himself to the
meeting, was received with very general applause. lie
felt great satisfaction in hearing the very able report o'..
the committee. He was the more happy to express this
satisfaction, as it had been insinuated that he and those
who. acted with him were hostile teethe institution.—
He could assure the meeting, that they had entertained
no hostile feeling. The account of the funds now
laid before them must give the highest satisfaction to
all of them. The desire of enquiring into the state cf
the funds hail been ascribed to the hostility of pereets
connected with other office,. lie denied that the ea-
quiry had any concern with any other office. These
were 60 or 70 instances brought forward of clai:es
against the office. They thought those claims ought to
be enquired into, and he hoped that the meeting coeld.
not be of opinion that fair enquiry in any instance 41:3
mischief. The del la made were answered by the cn 7...`...
mittce, and their report, in fact, . had justified all tie,:
had been done by him.and those who had acted with
him. Their ewn committee Lad recommended a rev:-
; sion of the deeds of settlement, and an improvement of
• the mode of management. This was, in thee, to aitreet
that the statement made by them (Alderman Thorp's
Committee) was correct, and that prospects had been
held out to subscribers which had not been realized.—
t heir object had been to promote the interests of the
society. They were accordingly much gratified by the
i report now read, which must be considered as the result
, of the inquiry to which they had given rise. He felt
much pleasure, therefore, in seconding the Motion just
, made.

Mr. Barry said, that ho considered the report ablc
and elaborate beyond any parallel in the history of
Insurance Offices, u-d he therefore most readily ap-
proved of .the motion that the report should be adopt-
ed, with the exception of tie part which referred to an
individual, with respect to which he had an amend-
ment to offer to the mecting..,fle implored of the meet-
ing to dismi,s prejudice from their minds, and. tOjudge
according to re:ram and argument, cod fromtort, ill
temper or ill nature. In the -report there Wite a sen-
tence of cond.:natation upon the -secretary (Sir. Big-
noW, who liwi never been called before the committee
to .deread. himself a auist any atcnsiatiuta.