The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-15 00:00:00

LONDON

The annual meeting of this company is held on
Saturday last, at the London Tavern—W. 21! lams, Esq.,
in the chair. After reading of the advertis Llent calling
the meeting, and the confirmation of the mi nutes of the
last annual meeting,

Mr. D. llamas, the secretary, read the following
report, and statement of the company's acr ;mints :
"In presenting their annual report t. I your conai-
deration, the board are enabled again to submit a
statement showing a highly satisfactory r progress in
the business of the company. The bah nee-sheet, and
also a statement of the receipts and . expenditure
for the year 1852, and a statement . mad valuation
of the assets and liabilities of the company •as at 31st De-
eemberlast, audited and certified, are presen led to the meet-
ing, from which it appears that, after proviedng for the pay-
ment of every policy and every outstanding: debt, including
preliminary expenses attending the formation of the com-
pany, the establishment of agencies, and every other ex-
peaditure, there was at that period a balance of 39,398/. Os.
ld. in favour of the company. The difference b stween the
value of current premiums and future claims is, of course,
not yet realised ; but a low rate of interest—only 3 per cent.
—having been assumed as thebasis of the calculation, and as
the rate of mortality adopted h as been found to be T ligher th an
the company has experienced., and no part of the profit to
arise from discontinued and .surrendered policies has been
included in the valuation, the estimate must balregarded as
sufficiently low. The first declaration of profits (which be-
long exclusively to the assure& \ is by your decd of constitu-
tion appointed to be made at the annual general meeting of
1854, and will be applicable to those who shall have paid
five annual premiums, thereafter the profits will be appor-
tioned annually, and the board expect that the first reduc-
tion of premiums to be declared at your next annual meet-
ing will exceed 25 per cent. In the year embraced in the
accounts now presented, 570 proposals have been received,
for the assurance of 177,628/. 25., of which 430 have been
accepted and completed, being rather more than that of the
preceding year, assuring 115,201/. 12s. 6d., and yieldig in
annual premiums the sum of 4,2631. 125.5c1. The num-
ber of policies issued since the establishment of the com-
pany, up to the Ist instant, has been 1,831, and the total
sum assured 531,1151. ls. 6d.; after deducting the policies
that have become claims, those that have expired and
these discontinued, there remain 1,347 policies, yielding
an annual income of 15,2621. 14s. 2d. The claims of
last year amounted only to 2,5501., snaking the total
amount of the claims from the commencement of the com-
pany 6,4911. 145., beingmuch smaller in expectancy; tending
to show that due caution has been used in the selection of
lives. The premiums received upon expi red and lapsed
whales, which no longer continue obligations on the com-
pany, tiara amounted to 3,260/. 16s. 4d. In appreciating
the satisfactory progress of the company and its present con-
dition, two important facts will be kept in mind; in the first
place, that there is no proprietary body whose funds might
have been applied in loan transactions, and by that means
have increased the business of the company, but whose an-
nual dividends must be paid to some extent out of the pre-
miums of the assured, thereby diminishing tl seir profits; and
in the second place, that the board have declined, sometimes
at the hazard of displeasing active agents, to enter into any
annuity transactions which, although they would have added
to the available funds, and might have been used to in-
crease the assurance business, would have more than pro-
portionately increased the liabilities of the company, and
the recent reduction in the rate of interest has shown that
the resolution to decline that kind of business has been
salutary and advantageous. Since your last meeting great
exertions have been made by interested parties to depre-
ciate the value of the principle of indisputability, as applied
to the practice of life assurance. The steady and success-
ful progress of this company, who introduced that valua-
ble principle, without which no life policy can be a
real assurance or a complete security, and a general de-
mand on the part of the public for its adoption, have
stimulated the exertions of those who refuse to grant in-
disputable policies, and the fact of this company havingrefused to recognise a demand whichwasin fact already satis-
fied, has been seized upon as an argument against the
principle of indisputability, although the circumstances do
not warrant any such conclusion. A father, having a
pecuniary interest in his son's attaining a certain age,
applied for an ordinary assurance on his life, payable
whenever he should happen to die, which was declined
by the company, as being a speculative
.or gambling as-
surance. The father thereupon made a statement as to
the amount and endurance of his interests in his son's
life, and a special assurance was granted for two years,
for which a corresponding small premium was paid.
The son attained the age to which the contingency ap-
plied, and the father received the full amount of the sum
assured against. The policy, having been applied for
and granted merely for a definite and special purpose,
and paid for as such, necessarily terminated with the
risk. In the present state of the question, the board are
precluded from entering more fully into the circumstances
of the case; but it is manifest that the demand is alike
untenable and unjust, and that the doctrine of indispu-
tability is not in the slightest degree affected by it. The
directors and members cannot but feel highly gratified at
seeing the position the company has attained, and the
members are again reminded that the profits which belong
exclusively to themselves may be much increased by their
own individual exertion.

RECEIPTS.
From the Ist January to the 31st Decoraber, 1852.
Balance at bankers, 31st December, 1851. £4,431 610
PP in the hands of secretary . 16 1 5
PP „ agents . 2,354 11 8
Premiums on life policies . £4,263 12 5
Renewal premiums . £9,807 19 1

Interest on loans to policy-holders .
Purchase of policies • • .

14,071 11 6
318 16 5
153 17 4

£18,316 5 2

2251 10 9