The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-10 00:00:00

THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF TIM
METROPOLIS.

The folio wing letter on this subject was lately addressed
by Lord Ebrington to a gentleman of influential position
amongst his constituents :

Bruton-street, April 16, 1855.
Sir,—l proceed, in compliance with my promise, to ex-
plain to you the provisions in Sir B. Hall's bill for the
local management of the metropolis, to which I entertain
the greatest objections. As I object to them for reasons
which I stated at almost every public meeting I addressed
in the course of my election, no elector has any right to be
surprised at the course I feel it my duty to take with re-
gard to this important measure.
I said on the introduction of the bill that, far from deny-
ing the existence of the evils its author so graphically de-
scribed, I entirely agreed with him both as to their extent
and their indefensible character. Indeed it was not likely
I should do otherwise, after strenuously labouring for more
than ten years, both in and out of Parliament, to direct
public attention to these evils, with a view to getting them
remedied.
At the same time the reverse of wrong is not necessarily
right ; and I think I shall be able to show, that, while the
remedy proposed affords little if any prospect of improve-
ment as regards many of the evils complained of ; it will
not only, if left as it stands, tend seriously to aggravate
others, but also to introduce several new and grave ones
for the first time.

The bill proposes to establish, including the City, 36
districts, each consisting of a parish, or union of parishes.
Hobhouse's Act is to be applied to all the parishes,
whether single or in union. In the 21 single parishes the
vestry are to be the district board. In the 14 unions con-
sisting of 56 parishes, the several district boards, com-
prising in all 653 members, will be chosen in certain speci-
fied proportions by the vestries so elected by the single

vote; of the ratepayers.
The several district boards are to send one member each
(except eight sending two members each) to the metropo-
litan board, which board will therefore, with the addition
of two members from the City, consist of 4t members.
And this metropolitan board is to select three persons, of
whom the Secretary of State is to appoint one to the office
of chairman, at a salary of not less than 1,500/., or more
than 2,0001. a-year.
The metropolitan'board is to take charge of the main

sewers, and is also to be invested with very large powers
for the improvement of the thoroughfares of the metro-
polis. All the other sewers are vested in the 36 district
boards, as is also the paving, lighting, &c., within the
several districts.

I will not call in question the limits proposed for the
metropolis, which are identical with those adopted by the
Registrar-General ; and I heartily approve, on principle,
of the union, under the same authority, of the subterranean
road surface management, i. e., of the sewerage and of the
paving, lighting, road-watering, &c. But I object to the
bill in its present shape. Ist, on account of the number of
districts into which the metropolis is to be divided for these
purposes; 2d, on account of the nature of these divisions;
3d, on aecount of the large number of the governing body
to be established in each division ; 4th, on account of the
composition of the constituency to elect each of these bo-
dies; sth, on account of the mode in which the vote of
these constituencies are to be taken ; 6th, on account of
the large numbers of members of the metropolitan board
of works, and of their representing only one class, viz.,
the ratepayers. Lastly, I object to the enormous powers
of this over-numerous board, and its probably unsatisfac-
tory dealing with the local interests of the metropolis ; and
I dread its almost inevitably undue influence upon the Go-
vernment and the Legislature.
Ist. With regard to the establishment of the 36 divisions.
This is a retrograde movement. The old separate and in-
dependent Commissions of Sewers were seven in number,
and as such too numerous for economy. There was consi-
derable waste in having so many separate staffs of officers,
quite apart from the inconvenience of their totally inde-
pendent action • and a large saving resulted from the con-
solidation of the seven staffs, especially in the engineering
and financial department. The general average cost of
management to the ratepayers was, during 1817, more
than 7s. per cent. per annum on the rateable annual value
of the seven districts ; while (notwithstandinr, the disad-
vantage of having to pram() information which ought to
have been provided by our predecessors) the charge for
management under the new consolidated commission, to
which I belonged, was actually below ss. per cent. per
annum on the rateable annual value of the district under
our active jurisdiction. When the expenses of manage-
ment in 1891 aro stated at 23 per cent. of the expenditure
in works, it should be remembered that this was in
consequence of money being refused us for the execution of
works to the extent of hundreds of thousands of pounds,
the plans, drawings, and specifications of which had been
prepared at a heavy expense by the staff. The staff ex-
penses in 1846, under seven commissions, were more than
20 per cent. on the works executed. Tho staff expenses in
1.851, under the consolidated commission, were only 11 per
cent., and that included systematic mapping and under-
ground surveying, items quite unknown in the olden times.
This economy resulted from placing seven engineers in
charge of a district each, at a moderate salary, under a
more highly-paid chief to superintend the whole, with
two or three assistants devoted to specialties. The same
obvious course was taken with regard to the financial and
other departments.
A reversal of this system, and the multiplication of sub-
divisions for drainage purposes to a five times greater
extent than prevaile under the Unconsolidated Sewers
Management, must inevitably lead to the officers in each

district being either undersiilled or over-paid, probably,
to their being both—underskilled for the work they
have to do, and overpaid for the work they do : in other
words, to a great additional expense, either in the shape
of extra salaries, or of inferior work, and, probably, of
both. And this objection is not met by clause 110, giving
to the Metropolitan Board compulsory powers of uniting
districts for the election of joint-officers. For the district
hoards retaining each their separate control of the sewers
in their districts, the officer would be placed in a position
of almost hopeless difficulty between his several masters,
in spite of any directions the Metropolitan Board might
issue about him. I therefore look upon the clause only as
a confession of the consciously imperfect arrangements
made by the author of the bill. When deprecating, how-
ever, the multiplication of drainage divisions, I do not say
that for the far simpler work of superintending the pav-
ing, lighting, &c., smaller "sub-districts" than our former
sewers "levels," or even, in some cases, than the parochial
divisions proposed by the bill, might not work pretty
well. But the surface management should, in my opinion,
be subordinate and subsidiary to the far more difficult
and important work of underground management. And
it is, or this reason that I object,
2dly. To the proposed 36 divisions for drainage pur-
poses. I object not so much to their unfairness, though it
is difficult to understand on what principle some parishes
have been dealt with in the bill. Why, Paddington for
instance, with a larger and snore rapidly increasing popu-
lation than St. Martin's in-the-Fields or St. James's,
should be united to Hampstead, with which it is not par-
ticularly connected, while these two parishes (St. James's,
occupying an area of only 165 acres) enjoy the same privi-
leges (except as to the sending one instead of two represen-
tatives to the Metropolitan Board) that are enjoyed respec-
tively by the parishes of Marylebone, which is 16 times, of
St. Mary, Islington, which is 19 times, of Lambeth, which
is 22 times, and of Camberwell, which is 28 times larger.
But I object especially to the parochial character of these
divisions, because the parochial boundaries clash, in almost
every conceivable way, with the natural watershed boun-
daries of the eight valleys running down from the north
into the Thames, and of a ninth from the west into the
Lea. The consequence will be that the branch drains (or
submains, as they are sometimes called), if constructed
along the best and cheapest lines, will cross a number of
separate jurisdictions, with the certainty of delay, and the
probability of differences arising between the several autho-
rities. If the branch drains aro taken with reference to
the limits of jurisdictions, rather than of watershed, they
will be constructed at greatly increased expense, and must
act with diminished efficiency. The parish of Marylebone,
for example, drains in its different parts, along not one
but three separate valley lines, down to the Thames.
Oxford- street,fromEd geware -road to Tottenham-court-road
I traverses four separate districts ; and moreover has its own
sewer,
,running sometimes ou one side of the street and
sometimes on the other, in different parishes, besides being
crossed by numerous other sewers going down towards the
Thames. It is true that, by clause iii, the Metropolitan
Board may place part of a parish or parishes under the
management of the vestry of another parish, but this will
involve such complicated accounts and such nice questions
of jurisdiction ; and, above all, the multitude of such cases
as those described is so groat, that this provision again must
be considered rather as a confession of the hopeless inap-
plicability of the scheme than as a practical remedy for its
a Itnitted defects.

3. I object to the large number of members composing
the district boards under the bill-120 being, under Hob-
house's Act, the number of vestrymen in all papulous
parishes without local acts, and therefore the number in
most of the single parishes under this bill ; and up-
wards of 45 being the average number in • each of the 14
district boards formed by the union.of parishes under the
bill. The vestry of St. George's as a body, and many
vestrymen individually, have declared their inability to
transact the laborious and difficult business arising under
this bill ; and, indeed, such large -bodies are found
in practice to deal far less efficiently and satisfac-
torily with detailed business than smaller ones, es-
pecially when that business is of a kind requiring
a constant reference, not only to general principles,
but also to the local specialties incident to former defec-
tive arrangements. Having worked hard myself for seve-
ral years, in company with some of the most eminent men
in England, upon these matters, I can answer for it that
they are not to be dealt with so easily as some spaakers at
public meetings imagine.
Notwithstanding the praises lavished by Sir B. Hall at
different times upon the manner in which parish affairs
have been managed by the large vestries of Marylebane
and St. Pancras, I must be allowed to express my doubts
whether, even in the far simpler matters of administra-
tion the working of those vestries has been so uniformly
conspicuous for efficiency, economy, and discretion, as to
lead to the conclusion that similar large bodies would deal
satisfactorily with the far more complicated task of man-
aging the great public works below and above ground in
their several districts. But decidedly as I object to the
largeness of these boards, I object,
4thly, much more to the composition of the constituency
by whom they are to be elected.
This constituency is to consist wholly of ratepayers
voting by single votes. No owner or lease-holder, what-
ever the amount of his property or the duration of this
interest in that property, having any vote as such in
the choice'of the bodies to be entrusted with such large
powers of taxing and dealing with property.
We shall be told that this is the cake under the Munici-
pal Reform Act. I know that it is so ; and as regards
the Management of Works I deplore it ; because I
know that the public works in towns managed by munici-
pal bodies aro, with some striking exceptions, in a far fromo
satisfactory state. But even were the Municipal tefrm
Act working well with regard to sanitary thematters, case
of the metropolis is not parallel to the cases of those towns.
ofa
The tax in them is general, and levied in the shape
borough rate upon the ratepayers at large.
In the
and has
b metro-
, polls, on the contrary, the sewers rate is, in l
been for centuries, not an occupier's, t an
owner, a rate,
which the tenant is entitled by law to deduct from his
landlord's rent.
We shall be told that, in the majority
which the tenant specially
cases, there
are clauses in the leases by
takes upon himself those charges
true
oictho thesom
is 3 0 elaevrxthenatd, bunui
ged Ly the promo-
posed upon his landlord. This
—exto.
by no means so extensively 50, as
told, by good authority,lotahsaets
tern of the bill.
say. nothing of the Icaomnstantly-recurringcasesof
, of ces-
wx and change of residence, and,
tsPaitrion- oTinterestthby the tenant—thera are large districts
where it not
But
practice for the Occupier to defray the
B it is said that in these cases the tenants
flowers rate.
practically pay the sewers rates in their rents, and that,
therefore, the proposed arrangement is not an unfair one.
If that be so, however, then the lodgers, an important
portion of the population of the metropolis have

equally a right with the ratepayers to share in the
repre-
sentation. If the single voting per capita is just with re-
gard to the management of works, which are in law a
charge upon the owners, I know not on what ground the
lodgers are to be wholly excluded from voting ; and I for
one should regret their being so, unless the owners are to
be admitted. Tlio principle of single voting in regard to
the government of persons has always been recognised by
the Constitution, as is seen in the Parliamentary franchise.
I am not, therefore adverse in the case of populous town
parishes to the maintenance of this leading feature of
Hobhouse's Act as regards the management of relief to the
poor, a matter evidently relating to the government of
persons, and involving charges almost entirely of a tempo-
rary, though to a certain 'extent a constantly-recurring,
character. But the application of this principle to the
umanagementt
yo,f Works
ff elnvolvingr headbet
tveyr andwlasting
sa-
bpuerrdmens
nen
elected
evda
bl value—in
men—i
wo
have
av e words,
confessedly giving
mu catnueant
ti n g
in that property,ranomalyatepa ye r
ssn,uoact
as some
lessan ma
sbi
ass
yco
etnve
ogc
ueo
general
prrhaoal overthan
payu n j t
uhi s
et
t—. seems
tolrfnethaen
rate, legally due from their landlords, thenhatveseewveerryts
w
probability of the sanitary evils continuing feor b
part unremedied, as they have been, and I fear
toeomloonsg
will be, in many of our corporate towns. For the apparent,
I do not say the real, interest of the temporary rat
as distinguished from that of the landlord above, liar orf
the lodger below, him in the social scale, is to put
off doing
anything to the last moment, and then to do it as Cheaply
as possible ; the efficiency of the works being of secondary
y
importance to him, and their permanency utterly indif-
ferent. The interests of the landlord and of the lodger
on the contrary, are to a great extent identical ; since (4E!
ciency, which is generally found in connection with dura-
bility and real economy, is to these parties far more im-
portant than mere cheapness at the moment. If, on the
other hand, as others say, the sewers rates are in reality a
landlord's tax, we have the anomaly of the landlords being
excluded from all voice in the laying out of their own
money on their own property—that is, representation
would be, in fact, as it inevitably is in law, dissevered
from taxation by this professedly liberal measure. My
opinion, published last spring by Mr. Ridgway, and
expressed viva voce over and over again during the last
winter to large and apparently approving audiences, has
always been, that both the class of owners and of long lease-
holders on the one hand, and the classes of ratepayers on
the other, ought in fair proportions to be represented in
the several bodies for the management of public works.
But, sthly, I object still more to the kind of suffrage
proposed, and to the mode of taking the suffrages, than I
do eveq to the single qualification or the single voting.
It is proposed that every elector in every part of the
parish shall be entitled to vote for the whole number of
vestrymen, and shall in person take up to his polling place
a voting paper containing the names of the whole or any
less than that number. The parish of St. Pancras contains
about 20,000 ratepayers. Each elector would therefore
be entitled to vote at each annual election for 40, and
in the course of three years for 120, vestrymen. In that
parish, therefore, alone, supposing the ratepayers really
polled out, the number of names would be 800,000, spread.
over 20,000 lists, all requiring to be scrutinised and ar-
ranged. But, further,' SL Pancras is 25 miles in circum-
ference, and extends overpart of Hampstead and Highgate.
It comprehends, therefore, not only crowded streets, but
also a rural district. What is a Highgate elector to do
when he has exhausted the limited number of those among
' his neighbours willing, and, in his opinion, fit to serve in
the office of vestryman with its double duties of relieving
paupers and managing public works ? Either he must
vote one-sidedly for a mere Highgate list, or he must take
on trust some pink or blue parochial list full of names
quite strange to him from the other side of the parish, in
consideration of the insertion upon the list of some High-
gate man on whom he and his neighbours have confidence.
Could any better specific be devised for insuring the maxi-
mum of electioneering agency with all its attendant jobbery
and demoralising organisation ?—for excluding from the re-
presentation all members of the minority, indeed all but
the most deeply-pledged thick-and-thin partisans ?—for al-
ways securing, for the time being, an overwhelming influ-
ence in the assembly to one or other of the alternately suc-
cessful parties, each in turn obtaining its triumph through
the fairest promises of efficiency and economy—each in
turn, after a short trial in office, being summarily ejected
for failing to realise the expectations it had raised ? Could
a more ingenious scheme be devised for insuring the mini-
mum of consistency and continuity of action, the maxi-
mum of oscillation and reversal of policy in an adminis-
trative body ; together with the greatest amount of change
and the strongest sense of insecurity in its paid, I dare not
say, its permanent, officials ? Such, experience has shown,
to be the natural result of voting t` by the ticket," as it is
called ; in other words, of the system of giving to a large
body of electors a proportionate number of votes each for
a proportionately large number of representatives. The
adoption of this course is the more indefensible when the
course of dividing a largo constituency into divisions or
wards, each returning some one, two, or three members, is
recommended by such numerous precedents, and has for
centuries worked so well.
But, 6thly, the inherent evils of the " ticket " system of
voting may be aggravated by the mode of taking the votes.
And of all the known modes of taking such multitudinous
votes, that adopted in the bill seems about the most incon-
venient, except that originally established by Hobhouse's
Act—an act passed, however, before, not after, the success-
ful trial for 20 years of the improved system introduced
under the poor-law. How has the system embodied
in this bill worked hitherto in the metropolitan pa-
rishes ? I will take those of Marylebone and St.
Pancras. Out of the 16,000 ratepayers in Maryleboue
at no one of the elections for the last three years have, I
believe, as many as 5,500 voted ; though some of the con-
tests were fierce, and many conveyances were provided
for the voters. Out of the 20,000 ratepayers in St. Pancras,
I learn from the vestry clerk, scarcely more than 2,700
voted at the , election under Hobhouse's Act in 1853 ;
though great excitement is said to have prevailed, and
long processions of cabs with banners flying and colours
displayed are said to have been seen on the occasion.
But at St. Pancras we have some instructive returns
about an election in 1815, conducted on the vote-collecting
system. The number of ratepayers then was only 13,000,
to whom must be added those entitled to vote as owners
under the New Poor Law ; but the number of voters that
voted—l say nothing of the number of votes given —was
more than 7,600. I may add that, at St. Martin's-in-the-
fields, with some 1,500 entitled to a vote, on no occasion
before 1835 had more than 750, or half, been brought up
to the poll: Under the first trial of the vote-collecting
system upwards of 1,500 voters, or near jths, voted out of
the then constituency, which had only been slightlyin-
creased by the addition of owners.

But we be told that this has resulted partly from
the want of additional polling plaoes ; and partly from the
absence of that greatly-increased interest sure to be felt

by all classes in the election of persona to a trust of such
large power and heavy responsibility. What do we find,
however, at elections where there are plenty of polling-
places, and still more stirring interest ? What do we see
at Parliamentary elections ? What was the case even at
mine, when a far large number voted for me than ever had
voted before in Marylebone? a great number of mysupporters
having recorded for the first time votes to which they had been
long entitled. What happened where no expense was
spared either by my manager or by my opponent's ?
Scarcely more than half the constituency voted. And is
this a singular case? Far from it. The Edinburgh Review
gave a list of a dozen large constituencies, with an ag-
gregate of some .130,000 on the register. Of these
not more than 55 per cent. (about 72,000 electors) voted at
the contested elections at the last dissolution. Nor is this
indisposition in the very large constituencies to poll at all
surprising, when we remember, that the cost of voting in
the shape of time lost, trouble incurred or business
neglected, is acon.stant quantity; while the value or propor-
tionate influence of a vote varies inversely with, magnitude
of the constituency to which the voter belongs, The re-
fusal of the franchise, and the imposition of a prohibitory
duty of time and trouble (i.e., money's worth) upon its
exercise, come practically to much the same thing.
The grievance seems certainly more crying in the former
case ; but is it practically much, if at all, more injurious ?
You know whom you exclude by the refusal of the fran-
chise. But do you know whom you will exclude by your
discouraging and prohibitory duty upon its exercise—by
sending the unpaid many and the paid few, the electors to
the poll-clerks" • instead of sending the few sound to the
many, the paid vote-collectors to the unpaid voters' resi-
dences ? Ask any election agent—he will tell you of whole
streets in the metropolis full of educated, respectable, and
wealthy inhabitants, who have scarcely ever contributed a
vote to the decision of any parochial contest, and contribute
very few indeed even to that of a Parliamentary contest.
Even at my election I hear that three-fourths of the elec-
tors in some of the wealthiest streets and squares never
voted at all ; while in Crooner-street I am told that the
proportion polling was just about three-fourths. And yet
if one or the other class, which I deprecate, is to be with-
held, which can be best spared from voting on a question
relating to the management of works and the taxation of
property ?
It has been shrewdly observed, as I have elsewhere said,
that, especially in the middle and lower ranks, those who
occupy themselves most about elections are either the best
or the worst citizeus. The best take part in public
affairs from a dense of duty, religious or patriotic.
The worst busy themselves in party contests either
from a love of the excitement and conviviality
attending elections, or else from the hope of
gaining something in the way of patronage. There is,
however, a krge intermediate class of men Of average in-
dustry and character, who care much for their own interests
and their families, and comparatively little for public
measures or public mer. And these can with difficulty be
persuaded, however clear their preference, to support
either one side or the other, at the expense of any of that
time and trouble, which they value so highly and know so
well how to turn to account. And this class is probably
nowhere in England more numerous than in the metropolis.
I therefore thick that it is particularly essential in this
bill to adopt some such plan for encouraging the quiet and
the infirm, the thoughtful and the impartial, the busy and
the lazy, the fastidious and the timid—all to take their
share in the public duty of electing local functionaries.
I have dwelt thus at length upon the system of voting
by votepapers at home, instead of at a poll, because it
seems to me one of the most important questions connected
with the franchise. With this system I should dread this
bill comparatively little, whatever objections I feltatoatobye
composition of the constituency; without it I dread any
measure such as this bill, because I judge from experience
by
assemblies will be returned int
t se
Works. My
by what class of the inhabitants almost
tenxeclunies
ei v et r
ol yp 0
I now come to the Metropolitan ofßoahrotsa
have already
objections to that are very
of course, be satisfied
• t to their composition, I cannot,
metropolitan board
jest
by which this
umber of mem-
urged at too great lengtk tosimthieladisttoritct boaxds. A-s oh:
with the constituencies
composed.
bers of whom it is to be
only
from its practical
as to elected.nunber
objectionable,
joebcj
teicotn
aa
think this
l
w applies still more strongly to
its business (
lso
'a reason which
in the proposed Parochial
tonotthe largoAnod
and efficient transaction of
incompatibility with the speedy
those yet larger average numbers
object to this large number
numerous
body would afford opportu-
nities because sucha
l °itation, though a smaller body, better
nities for politic
and District Boards) ; but
For stirring speeches hardly
Lan be
could not afford. fitted for getting atdh.rough work, instead of talkingpoli-
tics,made without something of an audience. In this assem-
bly
of between 40 and 50, however, I think in times of ex-
citement we might have an agitation, possibly almost of
a formidable kind. For this will be the only popular body
representing the metropolis ; and I confess I am one of
those who do not look quite without anxiety to the esta-
blishment of a Metropolitan Parliament, under the name
professing to repro-
os
efnat,Board
populationo of Works,
of rme porrees etuhtai sing ,t
wo ro
m.llio ns
and a half
(i.e., more than that of all Switzerland), and increasing at
50,000 a year.
I know, has announced that he does
the rate of fully
The Prime Minister,
not share these apprehensions. I remember, however, that
he had no fear but that the I.Baltic fleet last year would do
wonders in the north, and the Allied armies take Sebas-
toßol in the south. He had no fear that our soldiers
would die by thousands of cold, nelect, and
But the absence ofprivation.
a
g
vent but ou the misgiving on his part did not pre-
,
contrary, the occurrence of these'disas•

ters. And, with the sincerest respect for his experience
tshag:tatcointy,coamndplsitcaatteesdradnosmheipst,ic I mquusetstbioenslikeallowedthe
to
presentremark
one, which, till quite recently, he never professed having
attended to, I have less confidence in his judgment than I
have for it on military or foreign affairs, to which he has
long devoted himself with such signal success.
In conclusion, I will only add that though I do not
think there is any chance of any serious opposition being
made to the bill on the second reading to-day, I hope
and believe that many useful alterations may be made
in it in its passage through the house. Indeed, without
many such I think it neither could, nor ought to pass into
a law. Requesting you will be se good as to show this
letter to the other members of the deputation I remain,
sir, your obedient faithful servant,

EBRINGTON.

METROPOLITAN COUNTIES AND GENE-
RAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the seventh annual general
meeting of this society was held at the society's office,
Regent-street ; Mr. H. P. Fuller in the chair.
The notice convening the meeting having been read,
Mr. F. F. CAMROUX, the manager, then read the fol-
lowing report of the directors, with the financial state.
ment and report of Mr. Woolhouse, the actuary

" The directors of the Metropolitan Counties and Gene-
ral Life Assurance Society have the gratification of report-
ing to the members of the society a steady progress during
the last year. Notwithstanding the unusual obstacles
which the state of commercial affsirs has offered during a
great part of that time to the growth of the business of an
assurance office, the directors have issued in this year a
larger number of policies assuring a larger sum than the
year last preceding :—the number of policies issued being
302, assuring 109,1501., and producing an annual income
of 3,603/. Os. sd. The arrangements which they have com-
pleted for local agencies in several important districts lead
01rtt
aiihc
locte:
enhmB ero.wftslWioolaltichshiabii.
eecnnot6dhcyat
rier.ceitdmisapsoneaefeot
iewenrfe tafmhe
still
reference
e duringmore
fgentlemenoorre trhtahepei
mpd rioerdfs eal
ttahninoetayfi districtersaj first
r ete hsfepo
erm busi-
nesscom-
prisingcta
ity, is alsoeseart
satisfaction,
faTeoumnm,es circumstance ntaec
amounted
testimonytotnoln2,6s which
withduringmthucehy
lheess to he it
t. en_t yd
u_uhra ni
n ga tt
th
e lasedt ysletfrihBsiteliceTlMahhiirg;ihspiceinh.miaage-
the board refers
,roe3c7tol.r is have o 'after
submit deducting ti
yonng
oa ln
ltehpesepdrepsoenlitcieosc.casTiohne:dil
in ad to
to the usual annual
statement of account, a report from Woolhouse, your
actuary, upon the results of the b
society during the first seven
which it appears that the society is
now in
from
years
or ii.tiess done by the
polioy-holdeerrs who
to declare to its shareholders a bonus of 7ia pPciseleinota.
Mr. Woolhouse
upon their paid-up capital, and to those
are entitled to participate in profits, an average bonus
of
33 per cent. upon the premiums paid.
has assured the board that in making the calculations u
which this report is founded, he has allowed ample pPrOn-1 vision for every claim to which the society can be subject,
and that the result is the legitimate conclusion
from the figures representing the present state of
its assets and liabilities, without any attempt on
his part to produce an issue in its favour. The
directors have therefore no hesitation in recomend-
ing the declaration of a bonus to the extent mentioned by
Mr. Woolhouse. In the case of the shares, this bonus will
be added to the amount paid up, and will bear interest ac-
cordingly. In the case of the policy-holders, the bonus
may at their option be applied in reduction of premiums,
instead of being taken as an addition to the sum receivable
on death. To illustrate the operation of this bonus, the
following cases have been selected from policies now in
force suppressing the names :

t .d Option of
".a = e. Amount
3 w Annual of .. 5 ~ 0 . ...
:,...,..' zi Age `..;' Pre- Pre- c...., o 4 0 = ri, ig 4
0 „ ~. 0 • .5 ...
t' 0 mium. miums 0 ,0, ?-; ,-,§,,, 'a. 'N 0. c,
paid. 't:' 2- ;-.. ...4 `'" .72 E V,4)
P-,,p c 2) ...- '4l.:'''. to2A
8 A'
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ a. d. £ s. d.
1848 34 1000 30 19 2 216 14 2 5 8 4 58 3 (. 1058 3 0
1849 26 MOO 22 010 132 5 (. 3 6 I 44 16 6 1044 16 6
ISSO 30 :000 25 6 8 124 13 4 3 3 4 40 14 11 1040 14 11
185, 25 1000 2t 15 0 87 0 0 2 3 6 31 2 0 1031 2 0
1852 32 1000 25 8 4 79 5 1 1 19 8 25 910 1025 910

"Tile directors trust that the shareholders will agree
with them, in thinking that these figures fully justify the
anticipations held out in their previous reports, as to the
result of the society's operations. Tho following directors,
Samuel Driver, Esq.. Henry Peter Fuller, Esq., Edward
Vansittart Neale, Esq , and Sir Thomas Nowby Reeve,
retire by rotation ; but being eligible for re-election, offer
themselves accordingly. Henry Peach Buckler, Esq., and
John Soper Streeter, Esq., the auditors of the society also
retire from office, but being eligible for re-election offer
themselves accordingly. By order of the board of direc-
tors. F. Ferguson Camroux, Manager."

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the reception and adop-
tion of the report, said he could not avoid stating the
pleasure it gave him in doing so, recollecting, as he
did that, at their first annual meeting he ventured to
express in strong terms his decided opinion
that the society must be successful, in conse-
quence of the directors having formed the deter-
mination of making it of a highly honourable charac-
ter. Whether their business should be little or great,
the directors made up their mind that this society should
be one bearing the highest character an assurance society
could hear, and he felt confident at the time that in a
country like this where straightforward conduct, if not
at first, was at last sure to be appreciated, that
such a society ought and weuld succeed. (Hear,
hear.) It therefore gave him great pleasure to
ask them to adopt the report, which showed they
had succeeded by his being able to ask them to
declare a bonus of considerable extent on all the busi-
ness done in the office. (Hear.) The society's arrange-
ments were such that he had no hesitation in stating
that be looked forward to their business increasing, and
their being able to declare much larger bonuses than
they bad yet done. Their arrangements with regard to
the country business had been much enlarged, and were
capable of greater extension; but whilst the directors did
all they could to improve and increase the business, it
was the duty of every shareholder to assist them, which
they could now do with confidence, in recommending
the society to their friends as one which was sound in
every respect. (Cheers.) He had little to say to
them on that occasion, his being a simple
tale, and soon told. He had no apologies to
make for any wrong-doings, but had only to point out in
a straightforward and honest way the good and favour-
able condition the society was in to ask them to receive
and adopt the report.
Mr. J. S. STREETER seconded the motion, believing
most firmly that the society was deserving the confidence
not only of every shareholder and policyholder, but the
public generally.
The motion was carried unanimously.
The retiring directors, Samuel Driver, Esq., Henry
Peter Fuller, Esq., Edward Vansittart Neale, Esq., and
Sir Thomas Newby Reeve were unanimously re-elected,
the Chairman announcing that Mr. John Fisher, of the
firm of Messrs. Fisher and Robinson, of Watling-street,
London, had been elected a new director.
The retiring auditors, Henry Peach Buckler, Esq.,
and John Soper Streeter, Esq., were also unanimously
re-elected.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, seconded by Sir T.
N. REEVE, the usual sum of 20 guineas was voted to
the auditors as remuneration for their trouble in audit-
ing the accounts.

Mr. STREETER acknowledged the compliment of his
own and his colleague's re-election, and bore testimony to
the accurate manner in which the accounts of the so-
ciety were kept.
On the motion of Mr. GORING, seconded by Mr.
SMITH, the unanimous thanks of the meeting were voted
to the directors.

Mr. NEALE returned thanks, congratulatirig the meet-
ing on the prosperous condition of the society as exhi-
bited by the accounts that day presented which indicated
that the society must have been fairly launched, and
he hoped it had a long and uninterrupted career
of prosperity before it. (Cheers.) The commencement
of institutions of this kind was the most trying time,
both from the largehess of the expenditure and the com-
paratively speaking small returns; but having succeos-
fully passed over that period, and established themselves,
they might fairly anticipate their expenses would be
small in proportion as the business extended, and their
profits considerably increased. (Hear.) The society
was in a thoroughly sound condition, and would bearto
the most strict inspection from any person
judge of it. (Rear.)
of frolics to the
The CHAIRMAN proposed a vote thanks
p to say,
officers of tile institution, who,
he
was ofathPeYsociety.
not'>us isecsiB tydt
0 the
risk ; and he mentioned
worked cordially together for the benefit
They owed them their thanks fdr the a
solid
manner as
in conducting the business in such cloenatpheeytentotok
Mr. GRIFFIN seconded the re:,
I carried unanimously.
•+- the manager,
in returning
Mr. F. F. CAMEROU,
tic
h pleasure to state that
must result in the permanent benefit of the insured.
thanks, said it afforded hilntim,e
society
worked cordially
was confined
the whole of the officers of
red
to promote the pros.
parity was
together, and endeavoured
much as they could. The
of the
oanse
having
or foreign parts. The directors
to Ireland, Scotland,.yet extended etxhteensclo ec di ety
their w
reful in the selection of live; and.
dinglY ca
were excee
life where more than
took
a 1 two or three
they rarely
twohEoloegolafotdhe
had to be added
years
had they done otherwise, a
this because, much l 'larger
ar
of mightbusinessbeen transacted
amount ss have . It
always been the custom of that society to state its
income, and it now amounted, ac-
tual after deducting' all
lapsed policies, to 17,037/. ls. Bd.
On the motion of Mr. FISHER
SMITH, a vote of thanks was accorded
seconded by Mr.
which, having been
to the chairman,
separated.acknowledged by him, the meeting
_.,........_
LYc- Mir,

mences a farewell en
Amu 2IIICA.TRE. Madame Anna Thillon com-
mences
appear as Cahtagraing
seeing this charming Monday,aernienntrhn:xat. Diamonds, when
six nights, and theread
can Kaye an opportunity of hearing and
her admirers will
will be nightly filled to ovebTrefih
best characters. . actress and songstress in one of her
oinlwlooi
nnd' so
doubt
tg arbgue.A
.tmiteehrneotfi is
theatre
wfs
t oiri
his good judgment, has made the have
of a. dmissiort veil
moderate, so that all classes may have an opPortunity of
seeing this delightful actress previous to her anal retire-
ment from public life.
.A.dvices from St Petersburg to the Ist inst. state that
there had been an increased inquiry for hemp, owing to
several vessels under the American flag being expected
at Cronstadt. It was hoped they would obtain permis-
sion to discharge and load there, and hemp, hemp yarn,
and iron were being sent down for shipment. Never-
theless, there were doubts of the success of the attempt,
as the blockade of all the Baltic ports had been already
announced. The weather continued fine, but the com-
munication to the 3d inst. t Two ves-
sels Wag still interrupted by '
the
efraormrivaale.onTtihnew
sels had put to sea the day 'previously, and there had
'bay remained full 'di* and
Riga
Cronstadt
ice.mu n i c
Fromt in
Ince of northerly winds, was
very cold.
tahlseowbeeaetnh °ern,