The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-08 00:00:00

undertaking.
" The directors recommend that interest at the rate 01
5/. per cent. per annum be paid upon the paid-up capital

of the company.
" The register of directors' attendances is laid upon the

table."
The CHAIRMAN said that, in the absence of their chair-
man and deputy-chairman, he had great pleasure in
moving the adoption of the report. He was happy tto
see the document in the bands of almost every gentle.

man present, and he hoped they would consider it of a
nature to warrant him saying that it gave good proof of
the success of the company, not only in the past year,
but in every previous year of its exsstence ; and it was
an earnest, moreover, of what they might expect in future
years. It would be most gratifying to the directors to
have an opportunity of meeting the shareholders with
the same smiling faces which they now saw, and to be
able to present them in every successive year with a
statement as satisfactory as the one they had just heard
read. On looking over the report, it would be observed
that the number of proposals made to the company
amounted every week to very nearly the number of
weeks in the year, and though this, of course, did not
show the amount of premiums received, yet, at the same
time, when they came to consider that each of the poli-
cies which were issued from the office, and scattered
throughout the length and breadth of the land, was an
advertisement of the best and most telling kind, they
might confidently look forward to an augmented num-
ber of policies year after year, and to their operations
being attended by very considerable profit. (Hear.)
Mr. A. PAULL had very much pleasure in seconding
the motion. The report, which was a most lucid one,
and touched on all the points with reference to which
the shareholders looked for information, gave him pecu-
liar satisfaction, as he had at former meetings pre-
dicted the ultimate success of the company, and while
congratulating the meeting on the fulfilment of his pro-
phecy, he could not omit to say that their present fortu-
nate position was mainly owing to the exertions of their
indefatigable manager. (Cheers.)
The resolution having been carried,
Mr. BROWN, in proposing the re-election of the retir-
ing directors, said he had made it his business, as a share-
holder, and nquire as to th. e relative merits of these gen-
tlemen, it was exceedingly gratifying to him, as he
was sure it would be to his brother shareholders, to find
that all of them were men who would do honour to this
important company, not onto by their character but by
the zeal and industry which they brought to the ma-
nagement of its affairs. He was inclined to think that
four more efficient directors could not possibly be elected.
The election of directors in companies was too much
looked upon as a matter
of course, and the consequence
was that many were ill directed, while, if they had been
properly managed, they would have been crowned with
success. It required no great gift of mind to foretell
that if a man undertook a business for which he was
unfit, that business would most assuredly fail. This
was often seen in private as well as in public life, but
the same rule was not generally applied to each case.
I No one would ever think of advancing 2,0001. or 3,0001.
to an individual who was engaged in a business for
which he was incompetent, - but in public companys
men were not so cautious, and misdirection and failure,
in place of good management and success, was the ine-
vitable result. It was, therefore, with no slight plea-
sure that he submitted to the meeting the names of the
retiring directors. At the formation of the company they
worked most arduously notwithstanding the presence of
the cholera, which not only presented serious ob-
stacles to the establishment of young societies, but
actually endangered their own iiTON, :or )ac (Mr.