The National Register.
London, England, 1818-09-27 00:00:00

NATIONAL IL iserEn

NORWICH UNION FIRE and LIFE SOCIETY:

Friday a general meeting of- the insurers at the:Nor-
wich Union Fire and Life Office was held at the City
of London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, fur the purpose
of receivin the report of the committee appointed on
-the 27th of July last to investigate the charges made
against that office. The meeting was summoned at 12
o'clock, at which hour there appeared a very numerous
and a very respectable attendance of Members. About
half-past 12 the committee afinqury entered the room,
when

Mr. Alderman Patteson (of Norwich). proposed Thos.
Bensley, Esq: to the chair. This was unanimously
agreed to, and
Mr..Benshiy having taken the chair, observed, that
the motion was made against his will ; he should, how.
ever, exert himself to discharge - the duties which it
imposed upon him,
It was then moved that the report of the eommittee
-fliould be read, which being carried in the affirmative,
F. A;Clarke was requestedlo read it.
The report was extremely lung, and occuried a -con-
.siderable time in the rending
It began by stating the heads into which it was di-
vided. These were chiefly—the-appointment of the
committee; the Claims on the -Society ; the Constitu-
tion of the Society ; the State of the Life l)epartment
State of the Fire Department ; the Funds; Ageuts ;.
General Remarks and•an Appendix.
•The Appointment of the Commillee.—Under this head
the report stated, that in consequence of the several
complaints from many individuals alleging that they.
had not been dealt fairly with by the Society, that their
claims for compensation for losses by fire, Bc. were often
delayed, and in some instances altogether rerused, a.
meeting of insurers was held some time back at the
George and Vulture Tavern ; at which meeting a com-
mittee was appointed to inquire into thecomplauits, and
to report thereupon. As soon as some of the proceed-
ings of that committee were known, another meeting
was held at the .'fork Hotel, Bridge-street, on the 27th
of July last, where another committee was appointed.
for the same purpose, and for reporting on the nature
end causes of the abuses to a general meeting.
Time C/uitas upon the Society.—These the report di.
videdinto three classes ; the first consisting of cases not
I hitherto raid before the public ; the second of cases not
satisfactorily adjusted; and the third of cases of litiga-
tion.

.The Constitution of the Sock&—Under which it con.
sidered separately, its original deeds of settlement, and
the nature of the duties of several of its principal offi-
cers. The committee, it observed, though fully_ satis-
fied that great alterations and additions were called for
in the constitution and management of the Society, had
not yet sufficiently considered the subject, so as to point
out the precise nature of those alterations.
The Fire Department.—Under this head was given
a detail of the whole sums received for premiums, &c.
and of those expended in compensation for losses,
aootneies, &c from the foundation of the Society in 1797,
up to the present year. The grand totals of these
were--

Amount of Premiums received since 1797 Z 4.04,675 13 6
That of this tutu there had been paid, for losses
by Sre agencies, &c.
Leaving a balance of
From mil were to be deducted several smaller

items, for various purposes connected with the
management ; and there remained a sum in the
hands of the Society, as a fire.fund, of 100,197 0 0
This statement, as applying to the fire-fund, the
committee ho wd would be considered satisfactory,
though it fell short of the 50 per cent, which had been
first anticipated. The average rate of profit bad
been for the three periods of seven years each, as fol-
lows :—For the' first, the profit was at an average 18i
per cent. ; for the second, 53 ; and for the third, 29
per cent. making in the whole period of 21 years, after
all deductions of every kind, an average profit of 334
per cent. The reason why the last seven years were
not, on' the average, as productive as the preceding,
might in some degree be attributed to the great losses
by tire in 1617, 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 the
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, annuities, endowments,
&c. up to the year 1818, the sum of
£393423 11 1
Out of which there had been paid

Leaving a balance of 4257,11) 19 9
After the most mature consideration of this department,
the committee expremed the highest satisiiiction at its
results. Its profits were such as 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 depart-
ment had so well succeeded. Among these it noticed
the active and dili,;_;•eist conduct of the agenis, who
were particularly carefal in examining those whom they
insured. It pointed out the ;;ood.etrocts of having 01-

sErT '7

chit surgeons, by which the risks of life insurances
would be so much lessened and concluded this branch
by stating, that only one instance of a life insurance
had been disputed at law in the lust 10 years. It next
went into a review of the advantages of insuring in the
Norwich Union compared with those in the Equitable,
which it stated to be the greatest of all the other So-
cieties. The comparison, it observed, the committee
were not only piovoltedhut forced to make. This com-
parison wcut into a minute detail ; from which it was
intended to be proved that the Norwich had the su.
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 suet
of 366,0871. 9s. 6d. front which, however, some very
small deductions were to be made for losses since. This
sum consisted of various descriptions of property, such
as mortgages, shares in theSouthwark bridge, and severs:
kinds of stack, the great proportion of which stood iu
the name of Thomas Biguold,sen. Esq. but all with a
clause of trust. The next head of the report was,
Agcncies—upon %vhich it was observed, that many
agents hod not given any security, and of many others
the security given was vety inadequate to (lie trust
confided ; and though the loss sustained from these
circumstances was comparatively very trifling, and
though in general the agents'evere a very respectable
body of melt, yet the evil was one which ought to be
immediately remedied. The committee bad before
stated, that a great many of the securities and stock
were in the name of Thomas Bignold, sen.): Esq. ; they
now suggested the propriety of having them transferred
to trustees, aud 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 du any thing
which the Directors had authority to command, if it
were for the interest of the society—an answer which
the committee did not think at all satisfitetory. fhe
committee felt it their duty to state, that there were
very great defects in the deeds of 'settlement, which
should be corrected as speedily as possible , and with
that view again pressed the necessity of a committee
continuing to • investigate, for the purpose of devising
the necessary remedies. The report then went on to
state, that the committee would have felt it a very gra.
tifying task to be able to exonerate any officer of the
society from any charges against him, and particularly
Mr. Bignold, sen. ; but they felt obliged to state, that
the immediate retirement of that gentleman from hie
office of secretary was indispensably necessary for the
future welfare of the institution. .In conclusion, the
report stated it to be the conviction of the committee,
that the society, by a careful management and an alter-
anion of the constitutions, bade fair to raise itself to that
prosperity which its warmest supporters could wish.
This report, which was frequently interrupted Ly
plaudits, was at its conclusion received with very lei.g
aud general approbation.
Mr. Patteson rose to move that the report now read
be received, adopted, and ordered to be printed and dis-
tributed among the subscribers.
Mr.'Alderman Thorp, on presenting himself to the
meeting, was received with very general applause. He
felt great satisfaction in hearing the very able report 01
the committee. He was the more happy to express this
satisfaction, as it bad been insinuated that he and those
who acted with him were hostile to the institution.—
He could assure the meeting, that they had entertaiued
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 had been ascribed to the hostility of persons
connected with other offices. lie- denied that the en-
quiry had any concern with any other office. There
were 60 or 70 instances brought forward of claims
against the office. They thought those claims ought to
be enquired into, and he hoped that the meeting coeid
not be of opinion that fair enquiry in any instance did
mischief. The clai us made were answered by the con:.
mittee, and their report, in fact, had justified all that
had been done by him and those who had acted wita
him. Their own committee had recommended a revi-
sion of the deed; of settlement, and an improvement of
the mode of management. This was, in fact, to admit
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.—
lheir object had been to promote the interests of the
society. They were accordingly much gratified by the
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 he considered the report able
and elaborate beyond any parallel in the history Of.
Insurance Offices, and be therefore most readily ap-
proved of the motion that the report should be adopt-
ed, with the exception of the part which referred to an
individual, with respect to which he had an amen...-
meat to offer to the meeting. He implored of the meet-
ing to dismiss prejudice from their minds, and. to judge
according to reason and argument, and . not from ill
temper or ill nature. In -the report there iva:r a sen-
tence of condemnation upon the secretary (k".•. Big-
nold), who had never been called be:bre the cozinitte.:.
to defend himself a ainbt any accusation.