The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-07 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET

AND

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE,

TWELVE O'CLOCK.

The Money Market continues quiet, the demand
being no ,v of a moderate character. Tho rates out
of doors are al 4 per cent.

Sixteen thousand sovereigns from Portugal were
taken into the Bank on Saturday.

The report of the London and Lisbon Corkwood
Company, to be presented on Thursday, states the
available toal at £3,219, and recommends a dividend
for the half year at the rate of 15 per cent. per
annum. The Company have acquired extensive
forests in Algeria, and samples have been received
therefrom.

The accounts from the various manufacturing
districts have generally been satisfactory during the
past week. At Manchester there has been a fair
demand for goOds suitable to home requirements,
although only moderate transactions have been re-
corded for exportation. The woollen trade of
Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield has been season-
ably active, while the demand for lace and hosiery
at Leicester and Nottingham has been steady. At
Birmingham, Sheffield, and Wolverhampton there
has been a slight improvement in most departments.
At the annual meeting of the Royal Insurance
Company, the report on the life business was of an
exceedingly gratifying character, the sum assured on
new policies effected in 1864 amounting to the al-
most unprecedentedly large sum of £1,014,897, and
the premiums thereon to £32,708. Large as were
the operations of the past year, however, the results
disclosed in the able bonus report and elaborate
" appendix" of Mr. Percy M. Dove, the talented
actuary of the company and well-known mathema-
tician, eclipsed much of the interest that would
otherwise have attached to them. The Royal, in
completing its twentieth year, completes also an-
other quinquennial period, and its liabilities
and assets have undergone a minute investigation,
and been valued on the safest and soundest princi-
ples which experience has determined. After show-
ing in his report how rapidly the company's business
has extended in the five years just closed, Mr. Dove
states that the amount of surplus profit realised in
that period is no less than £168,985. Of this
amount he, for convenience, takes an even sum,
£165,000, and after appropriating one-third to the
credit of the proprietors, the remaining sum, it ap-
pears, "is sufficient, even though the interest of
money should only be 3 per cent., to provide a rever-
sionary bonus of £2 per cent. per annum to be added
to the original sum assured of every participating
policy effected prior to 1863." This, we need hardly
say, is the largest continuous bonus ever declared by
any other office, and this fact of itself is the best
proof that can possibly be given of the careful
management which has all along characterised the
Progress of this gigantic insurance institution. The
" appendix " to the actuary's report consists of 48
pages, and gives the minutest particulars as to the
affairs of the company. It would save mu el disap-
pointment if this practice were followed by all asso-
ciations that transact life business. Those who do
not, however, are always open to suspicion that their
affairs are not satisfactory, and hence they run a
great risk of being eclipsed by an office like the
Royal, whose great desire seems to be to keep
the public fully informed upon all matters of
detail as well as of results in the aggregate.
Were this not so the Appendix would not have been
published. For the first 15 years of the company's
existence the net premiums received, after deducting
re-assurances and returns, amounted i o £332,903,
in the last five years £543,025, the difference being
£210,032, showing the amount of the last five years
to be no less than 63 per cent. in advance of the
previous 15 years. The expenses, including com-
mission and every other charge, are gradually
diminishing. In the first 10 years they were 14.8
per cent., in the next five years 12.75 per cent., and
in the last quinquennial period 11.98 per cent. The
claims have been remarkably favourable. In the
first 10 years they were 32.75 per cent., the follow-
ing five years 31.7, and for the last five years 33.39,
while for the whole period of 20 years they were
32.9 per cent. of the premiums received. The rapid
growth of the accumulated funds is another evi-
dence of the soundness of the company. At the
close of the last five years they amounted to the
large sum of £571,046, being nearly 70 per cent.
above the total accumulations of the preceding 15
years, and more than five times the sum accumu-
lated during the first 10 years of the company's
progress. The total accumulated funds, including
all departments of the business, together with the
paid-up capital, now amount to £1,160,649. In
the fire department the Royal has advanced still
more rapidly than in the life. The fire pre-
miums in 1864 were £406,403, being larger by
£64,736 than those of the preceding year.
The losses, however, were heavy, as they have
been in all similar companies, and, as a con-
sequence, no profit was made on this head ; but,
of course, the results of fire insurance must never
be taken by single years. It is satisfactory to find
that although in eight years there have been two
exceptionally bad ones—the past, and the year
1861, when the large fire in Tooley-street occurred
—yet that over the whole period the Royal has
realised on the fire business a very handsome profit.
In one year alone, 1863, the profit was £83,000.
There is then no cause for complaint, but every
reason for congratulation, and it is to be hoped that
Mr. Dove, to whose Herculean labours this com-
pany is so greatly indebted, will long be spared to
guide and conduct its affairs, and that, with the
assistance of Mr. McLaren, the sub-manager, and
the other officials, it will go on not only as pros-
perously as hitherto, but, as there is every indication
of its doing, still more prosperously.

Two O'CLOCK.

At the Paris Bourse this morning, according to
Reuter's telegram, the 3 per Cent. Rentes were
68f. 05c. Firm and animated.
The English Stock Market has continued in a
Very inactive condition all day, but prices have
nevertheless shown much firmness. Consols are
(Jitoted 89/ 90 for money, and 90/ for the account.
The New Throes and Reduced Annuities aro 89/ ;
India 4 per Cent. Certificates, 991.
Very little business has been concluded in the
Poreig,n Market, and prices have been without the
slightest alteration. Turkish 6 per Cents., 1862,
are 72i ; ditto Consolides, 49/50 ; Mexican, 23i 4;
ditto New,
22i 23/ ; Greek, 20; 21; Spanish Passive,
28i I ; ditto Certificates, 131 j ; Italian, 63/
and Confederate Loan, 7 8.
Uhe preference shares of the Atlantic Telegraph
Company excite general interest. In the early part
of the day a decline took place to 2/ dis., but
they have since recovered to 2 11 dis.
In the Railway Share Market there has been
very little animation, and prices have shown no
eh
'lnge of impertance. North Eastern (Berwick)
have 4eclined 10s. and Midland ss. ; while North