The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-18 00:00:00

Royal General Annuity Society.

A special general meeting of the subscribers to
this charity was held yesterday at the London Ta-
vern. At the hour appointed for commencing busi-
ness, only two of the directors—Sir John Heron
Maxwell and Mr. Moir—were in attendance, the
remainder of the board, with the secretary, being
absent. After waiting for some time, and no other
official of the charity making his appearance, Sir
John Maxwell was asked to take the chair, with
which request he complied. _ _ _

The CIITAIRJIAN said he was placed in a most un-
pleasant position owing to the absence of his brother
directors and the secretary, and no books or docu-
ments of the charity forthcoming. Late on Satur-
day afternoon he received a notice from the secre-
tary that the meeting called for to-day had been
postponed, but not stating to what day it had
been postponed. He at once wrote to the
secretary to know by whose authority and for
what purpose the meeting had been postponed, and
also to what day. To this note he only received
an evasive reply, and he therefore caused a letter
to be inserted in several of the daily papers of this
morning, stating he should feel it his duty to attend
the meeting, and inviting the subscribers to meet
him, and he felt greatly obliged to those who had
responded to his request. He then went on to cha-
racterise the whole management of the charity as
most unsatisfactory, and considered the secretary
totally incapacitated for the duties of his office.
(Cheers.) The charity was rapidly sinking into
that objectionable condition from which, in April
last, he had, with the aid of Mr. Moir and the sub-
scribers, rescued it. He thought it was the duty of
the subscribers to take up the question, and not al-
low so useful a charity to be so grossly mismanaged
and neglected. (Cheers.)
Mr. M. Mom moved—" That the conduct of the
secretary in absenting himself from the present
general meeting, and of which ho was fully cogni-
sant, is discourteous and highly censurable, and that
the mode in which the business of the secretaryship
has been transacted during the last 12 months is
one requiring the serious attention of the sub-
scribers." The whole management of the charity
was a disgrace to all concerned.
Mr. PALMER seconded the resolution.

Dr. RAMSAY supported th 3 resolution. Ile found
by the imperfect balance-sheet of the charity that
while during the past year only £4OO had been paid
to annuitants, the expenses had been about £9OO,
£4OO of which had been taken by the secretary as
salary. (Cries of " Shame.")
The resolution was agreed to unanimously.
Mr. DALY then moved and Mr. WARToN seconded
a resolution, which was also carried, recommending
that a requisition be signed by 10 subscribers and
three directors, in accordance with the rules, and
sent in to the secretary requesting him to call a
general meeting of subscribers on the 9th of May
to consider the management of tho charity since
April 1864, and to devise means for placing it in a
more satisfactory position.

The requisition was then signed by 10 of the sub-
scribers present, and the meeting, during which the
most extraordinary statements were made, then
closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.