The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-25 00:00:00

TIIIIRSDAY

MARCH 25, 1852.

THE MERCHANTS' AND TRADES-
MEN'S MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE
SOCIETY.

The fifth annual meeting of the members of this
society was held on Thursday, the 18th of March at the
offices in Chatham-place, Blackfriars. ,
John Macgreggor, Esq., M.P,. presided.
Mr. GEORGE THosesoer (the Manager) read the re-
port, by which it appeared that the number of policies
for the year ending 31st Jan. last are 18l
The amount assured £54,650 0 0
The premiums on which are
Since the 31st Jan. last, sixty-one pro-
posals have been passed, amounting to 21,100 o 0
The premiums on which are
And there are before the Board 13 proposals amount-
ing to 6,900/., the premiums on which are 245/. 19s. 9d.,
now in progress of completion.
Making the total number of policies
The amount assured ...£216,432 & 0
The anrinal income of the Society 7 024 7 4
27 Preposa's for 14,150/. have been submitted to the
board during the ye-sr which have been declined.
The claims be de eth, which have been discharged,
amount to 1 6601. end there is one small claim of 401,1-
which 'he cbjeetors cannot settle, in con.tegti.nce of thefts
b. i; g different claimants ieterested in the sum.
The CHAIRMAN Ina v stile atatertie nt webt Over the
diff-reut h. ecs ..1 the repute, and mevtd its adep:ion,
wh'eti Wes carried 1111-titiMk,USl3.
The r. eelurion hevii g act-n carried, vet. sof tlianlts
to the dirt crew:, aid auditors, aid 51r.11ALL (4n auditor)
in returning tharees, oeserve d that the dos-eters should
adopt 111,01114=r tc-de of us,uranee. wlich ice e, neeiv. d
' would bring the m a great del of buainesa--eamely, a..-
.uring say the pey meet of 1001. to a person reactieg
sixty, no e euefit to be derivable from his payments it he
dtel before r« Kehl, g that age. -
Mr. A RRowsMITH proposed a complimentary vote of
thanks to the medical officers, the manager, Mr. Thom-
son, the secretary, Mr Musgrave, Bud the 'agent and
other officers of the society. They were all able and
'eminent men. One of them (Mr. Thomson) be was
instrumental in bringing there himself, and he came
with the very highest testimonials from five or six of
the greatest names in the City. Mr. Musgrave was
an able coadjutor, and he was always glad to see him
at their meetings. It was to him a source of regret
that many persons were dissuaded from assuring their
lives because they were afraid a time might come when
they could not keep up their payments, and that they
would lose all the money they had previously paid en
account of a policy of assurance on their lives. Their
condition might practically illustrate the dream of Pha-
roah, who dreamt that seven fat kine were eaten up
by seven lean kine. Seasons of prosperity and seasons
of adversity were the lot of many of them. Perhaps
they assured for too utuohrandif they- could not continue
their premiums, they found themselves in worse hands
than those of a hard-dealing usurer. Now it should
be known that the directors of that office gave credit for
premiums, charging only a moderate sum for interest
' for twelve months, in order to give a man time to re-
cover himself. It was to correct this evil, so far as it
affected the varying fortunes of literary men that he had
associated with Charles Dickens and others in the for-
mation of the " Guild of Literature and Art." And the
" Ather mum Institute" in Sackville-street was eatab-
tablished for a similar purpose. Offices that would not
lend a man 30/. or 401. to enable him to maintain his
policy for a little while, pursued a dry skin-flint
usurious practice, which could not be too much
reprobated.—(Hear, and laughter.)
Mr. THoMSoN, in returning thanks for the very kind
aed flattering manner in which Mr. Arrowsmith had
been pleased to refer to his humble services, and that of
his friend Mr. Musgrave, said that they had both used
their best exertions, as was their duty, to promote the
interest of the society. With regard to Mr. Arrow-
smith's very judicious observations as to advancing, by
way of credit-, one year's premium if required by the
assured, be quite agreed that it was a judicious and
equitable provision, and in that spirit it had been ap-
proved and adopted by the directors. Dr. Benthaw's
suggestion that in no case ought a forfeiture to occur,
seen as that described by Mr. Arrowsmith, had also
been anticipated by this society. The Doctor would
find that they had a regulation whereby, after five pre-
miums had been paid, a policy might be surren-
dered, and a new policy granted corresponding to
the value of the one surrendered without payment
of any further premium. As an illustration
of the principle, suppose a person te assure for I,oou/
for the whole term of life at a premium of 30L, and to
pay five premiums. It' that person had inured for fite
years as a snort perioe policy, he woul t only have had to
pay about on.-half, or 151.; consequently the other half
is paid against the future end daily increasing risk. Now
this sum would be applied as a simple payment, and a
Tetley granted accordingly on the surrenaer of the,old
one, and the assured would be pr. cisely in the same posi-
tion, on the Caine table, and with all the adv dose•
proportionably which he ever lied. It was, no doubt, an
arbitrary rule to fix on five years as the shorteet period
for the cenversion, but it was thought that any shorter
time would be too great an inducement to parties to
discontinue their insurances; and it was not the
dety of offices to encourage parties to abandon so
important a provision as that of a life policy.
The regulation had been approved by Professor De
Morgan, as both equitable arid judicious. With regard
to Mr. Bull's propesel to have a table constructed for
endowment assurances. contingent on lives surviving a
given age, he (Mr. Thomson) very much doubted the
propriety of encouraging that principle. Such a mode
of assurance would be a mere gambling speculation. It
would invert the very ; rinciple and most important use
of life assurance. It would be a speculative on a leog
life, but no prevision in case of premature death, and
the vital principle of life assurance was to provide
against the latter contingency. In the case sug4ested,
if the assured lived to the specified age he would get the
amount assured, but in the event of his dying before,
his family would lose the benefit of all his payments.
In was a most unsatisfactory speculative mode of as-
suarance, unless combined with a provision to pey to
the representatives in case of death before the given age.
And for this descripion of endowment assurances the
society had already provided by their Table No. 6.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS
LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY..--Return of
Traffic for the week ending March 21:—
Passengers, parcels, mails, &c. ... £22,441 7 8
Merchandise ... ... .. ... 17,682 14 11
Cattle .. ... ... ... ... 1,061 14 6

Total ... £41,185 17 1
Corresponding week last year ... 40,409 16 10
Note.—The returns as published are exclusive of the
traffic of the Huddersfield Canal and Shropshire Union, North
Union, Preston and Wyre, South Junction, Manchester and
Buxton, and Buckinghamshire Railways, and of the propor-
tion of traffic deducted under agreement with the North
Staffordshire Company.

Tm GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.. (Miles in work, 2411)
-Return of Traffic for the Week ending March 14, 1852:
Passengers, parcels, carriages,
horses, dogs, and mails ... £4,626 2 6
Merchandise and minerals ... 6,099 010
Cattle ... ... ... ... 152 10 7

Total .. £10,877 13 11
Corresponding week, 1851 (236 miles)
Passengers, parcels, &c. ... £4,046 14 3
Merchandise, Cattle, &c. ... 3,821 3 6

Total ... ... ....£7,84 17 9
LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.—Amount of
Traffic for the week ending March 21 :
Passengers ... ... ... £6,539 18 10i
Goods ... ... —. ... 2,8,8 9 1i

Total ... £9,353 8 0
Corresponding week last year... 7,969 31 1.
Scornful CENTRAL RAn.wer.—Traffic for the Week
ending March 21, 1852 ;
Passengers (7,212), parcels, horses,
and carriages ... £7S4 12 11
Goods, cattle, &c. ... 920 16 9

Total 1,70; 9 8
Corresponding week in last year... 1,604 4 1
Perth. March 24. 1852.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY.--.TriliffiC for the
week ending March 21:—
MAIN LINE.
Passengers ... ... X 940 2 9
Parcels, H. C. and D. ... 82 5 5
Goods, cattle, &c. 596 19 5
Mails ... 575 0 0

Total .. ... ... £2,194 7 7
MOLD.

Passengers 1.30 1 0
Parcels, H. C. and D. ... 1 15 2
Goods, cattle, &c. ... 98 8 9

Total ... £l3O 4 11
STEAM-BOATS.

Passengers ... £135 5 9
Parcels, H. C. and D. ... ... 25 14 10

Total £l6l 0 7
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE RAILWAY. -- (260 miles
open.)—Traffic for week ending ISlar. 21 £15,969 15 6
Corresponding week in last year (260
miles open) '
.X 14,400 12 7
T-- C-

_HE -RYSTAL PALACE.—YeSterday the number
of persons who visited the building was greater than that of
the preceding day. In different parts of the building tables.
petitions
are placed, upon which
of the building were signed by thousands. The litatiedeslutac
in favour of the retentrin.
dent of yesterday was the removal of the cage and e
of the celebrated Koh-i-noor. The cotistruction of the
WAS most ma-
chineryex-
for the rising and sinking of the, jewel , Dir- Best'
traordinary, and excited the utmostv?!......r"- -
formance upon
according to announcement, gave IV 17:74,1.0*ded atten-
Willis's great organ, which attracted a To...rile programme
dance at that particular part of the building: composers.
consisted of selections from the most
eminent
by Handel, among which may be noticed a concerto
ce a German chorale.
deli-
ciously played, and the concluding
pwieould be difficult to
Of the execution of this chorale
it
f the variations and the
speak too highl the brilliancys° maintained thrtupbc ut
clearness with which the air
was
for the loudest
the most intricate passages,
gave in which is introduced the
ap-
plause. The concluding
fugue,
agnificent, and we most
Swell to tha great organ, was
delighted listeners in saying it
cor-
dially agrea with one f
u t beautifully played." W e have not
was a " beautiful subject
the slightest doubt bu
that the Wednesdays and Saturdays
for the future will bectonsidered the great days of those yet
remaining of tha
Great Exhibition building.
NEW WO-R-K 1:1 Y THE AUTHOR OF " MARGARET
will hear with pleasure that a
D "—Our readers _
h of those p9ular MAITLA.I% D.
announced by the aut or
new novel is
Maitland," " Dlerkland," &c. It is en-
., margaret
of Scottish
works,
Graem ~ of Mossgray," a story .
titled " Adam
is said to resemble in its mingled pathos, uaintness,
ci
of
life, and
of
character, the first production
striking delineation
it will be and
,which the late Lord Jeffrey,
its
line .
this clever
thing in
re-
membered, pronounced superior to any
Galt. This writer has, indeed, originated an entirely new
school of Scottish novels, and there can be little doubt that
the publication of " Adam Graeme' will be awaited with un-
usual interest and curiosity by the thousands who have
frde-
rived
instruction and amusement from the former efforts of
her graphic pen.