The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-10 00:00:00

/~ 1~

' which wo a ldlully justify a very handsome bonus to the
policy and share holders.
The motion was then agreed to unanimously.
Mr. JOSEPH BROWN then proposed the re-election of
the retiring directors, Messrs. Baker, Latham, De
Massiac, Lidwall, and Paull. As he had long worked
with these gentlemen, he was able to say that their in-
cessant and untiring labours had been of paramount
advantage to the interest of the company. He had seen
the seed first planted, which was now grown up to be
a large, tree, in the branches of which men of substance
and property now came to lodge themselves. The work
of the directors had been so great that he himself could
not stand it, and had been obliged to retire front it. He
observed by the financial report that these gentlemen
had not taken advantage of the amount of remuneration
which, by the deed of settlement, they were entitled to
do ; but they had gone upon the principle that, as the
society was young, they would allow it to proceed until
the time came when it could afford to compensate them
for the labour which they had bestowed upon it. Mr.
Brown concluded by paying a handsome compliment to
the manager.
Mr. MALcout seconded the resolution, which was car-
ried unanimously.
Mr. LIDWALL moved, and the Rev. Mr. WOOD
seconded the motion, that E. G. L. Perrott, Esq., be
elected a director, in the place of Capt. O'Brien, retired.
Agreed to.
Mr. DANIEL PRATT then moved that interest at the

......
rate of five per cent. be taken upon the paid-up capital.
He had great pleasure in moving this resolution, because
he had seen that the predictions of previous years had
been fully realised by the amount of business transacted
by the company. It was highly gratifying to find that
•the second year's business had doubled the first, that the
third was equal to the other two together, and the
fourth equal to the amount of all the previous years
united. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BLUNDELL seconded the motion, which was una-
nimously agreed to.
On the motion of Mr. CAYMAN, seconded by Mr.WAct-
STAFF, 4281. 18s. 6d. was voted for the expenses of the
directors.
The Rev. Mr. GEORGE then moved that the thanks of
the meeting be given to the directors for their exertions
in behalf of the company. He understood the
motion to be one not of mere compliment, but an ex-
pression of warm-hearted, sincere English thanks to the
directors, which none had more merited. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Brown had said that he could not stand the work,
but he (Mr. George) had never dared to try it. (Hear.)
He could not but congratulate the company upon what
he waidd call the singuar providence of their progress,
and it was highly gratifying to think that, while they
were joined together to promote their own interests by
a commercial undertaking, they were at the same time
conferring sound, temporal, and domestic blessings upon
many of their fellow-creatures, and teaching them to
improve the present by giving them a hold upon the
future. (Hear.)

Mr. HoLcRoFT seconded the motion, and bore testi-
naony to the great hold which institutions of this nature
were obtaining on the middle classes in the country dis-
tricts. They were gradually supplanting the " benefit
clubs," and young men had now discovered that they
spent as much in going to pay their " club money" as
would insure their lives for a fair amount, to be paid on
their arriving at 40 or 50 years of age. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. LATHAM proposed the next resolution, which
was, that the thanks of the meeting be presented to the
auditors. He thought that the steady rate at which
their business had progressed could not be too largely
thought of, and it gave every indication of real prosperity
and stability. At the end of 1850 the number of per-
sons insured was 217 ; at the end of 1851 it was 619 ;
of 1852, 1,247 ; and of 1853,- 1,520, making a total
of 3,200. So regular and gradual a progress was
a great matter of congratulation, for it showed that
the strength which they had gained was genuine
and bona fide, and that their advance was not a
mere flash-in-the-pan. The amount insured was atout
2401. for each policy, a sum not so large as to terrify,
nor so small as not to be remunerative. The call
which had been made had been greatly advantageous to
the interests of the company ; its purpose had been to
enable the directors to increase the business of the office,
and certainly the money had yielded so considerable a
profit that if calls were always so profitable, he for
one did not care how often they were made. He had
great pleasure in moving this vote of thanks to the
auditors, because it was to them that the public 'looked
for a faithful report of the 'company's proeeedii4s, and
to no one could it be better trusted than to, the' gen-
tlemen who were now the auditors of this compa.ny.,
Mr. BIDGOOD seconded the motion, which Was agreed
to unanimously.

Mr. WEBBER then moved a vote of thanks to Mr. She-
ridan, the manager, and the other officers of the com-
pany. It might be supposed that the heads of families,
parents, and others, would need but little persuasion to
induce them to provide by life assurance for those who
were to come after them ; but the initiated well knew
that it was in reality necessary to school men for their
good. They would not be provident, and therefore it
was that men were required like their worthy and re-
spected manager, Mr. Sheridan, at the head of their in -
stutions. That gentleman had the power of language,
and he knew well how to bring men to feel what was
their own interest. No man could use his rhetoric with
more power or more tact, and at the time that he served
this institution, he also served those upon whom he exer-
cised his powers of persuasion. It had been urged by
some that there were so many assurance offices rising
around, that all could not be safe ; but he, for one,
rather rejoiced in this increase, because life assurance
principles could not be too much promulgated, and the
more offices there were the more business was there
likely to be not only for this office but for all others.
(Hear.) It was not above 150 years ago since life as-
surance was called into being ; and the march of civili-
sation would very much increase the value and scope of
institutions of their nature. He could unhesitatingly say,
that the flourishing position of this society was mainly
attributable to the indefatigable energy and unswerving
perseverance of their manager. (Hear, hear.) He was
always at his post, and he never left a stone unturned to
benefit the institution. Not only was his intention good,
but his ability to work institutions of this kind was un-
rivalled. (Cheers.)

Mr. WAGSTAFFE seconded the resolution, which was
carried unanimously.
Mr. SHERIDAN, the manager, returned thanks on be-
half of himself and the other officers of the institution.
The different items of the report had been so satisfac-
torily referreded to by the chairman, and those who had
followed him, that it would not be necessary for him to
discuss at any length the operations of the year. The
expenses of introducing the guarantee business had been
large, for there was always more expense incurred in in-
troducing a new feature of business to the public than in
carrying out a well-recognised principle. (Hear, hear.)
It was very important to this company that such
expense should be incurred, because the extra busi-
ness brought by the guarantee connection would
prove largely profitable to the general interests of
the office. The list of companies that accepted the
guarantee of this office had been found to be of great
advantage in inspiring confidence in persons desirous of
assuring their lives in a safe office, end had greatly in-
creased the public confidence in the stability of this office.
There were at present 150 incorporated and associated in-
stitutions that accepted the guarantee of this office, and
it was well known that many of them were bodies who
were not allowed to deal lightly with the funds of their
shareholders, but were called strictly to account. It
would readily be supposed that when a company of high
position accepted the bond of this office for 20,0001., as
men of business they took care to inquire into the position
of the office and its constitution and stability. Such was
the case with the Great Western Railway Company,
who, before accepting the guarantee of the company, had
directed their solicitors to make a report on the position
of the office, and now the greater portion of the employes
of that company were guaranteed by this office. So with
regard to the Eastern Counties Railway ; this office,
out of one hundred and fifty stations, had guaranteed
one hundred and thirty. An attempt had been made by
the office to induce the Government to give them part of
the business of guaranteeing the Government officials,
and a memorial to that effect had been sent to the Trea-
sury. If the late Government had continued in office there
was no doubt that the present monopoly would have
been broken through, and the business thrown open to
all the offices. A Parliamentary committee was now
sitting, as had been stated by the chairman, virtually
to inquire into the relative question of old and young
offices. That committee bad been obtained by Mr.
'Wilson on a speech full of mistakes and characterised
by general ignorance of the subject, and the first wit-
ness who was examined before it ought to have been
the last, for, by his evidence, he fully disproved
all that had been stated by Mr. Wilson • indeed,
Mr. Whitmarsh stated that, in the whole Of his ex-
perience, he had never known an instance of a mutual
office becoming insolvent : in other words, that he had
nevermet with a case of a life policybeing refused payment
on the ground of there being no funds. Proprietary offices
might have failed, but the policy holders did not suffer,
because the moment it was found that the business of an
office could not be carried on at a remunerative rate, all
'that was required was to assign its business to some
other office, and here ended all risk to the directors, and
to the policy holders. There was no risk nowadays of
offices being established by mere adventurers, for
before the first year was over they would have
so many preliminary expenses—ethe
rauttrentsenha
fhtea,eno:ladvertising,deteuortfotefoffices,
tae rbei
clerks' wages, printing, &c., to bear, that'none but men
fishingofrn
asdueb,s
had t
an
substance i coseffiu couldgegg.esuggested
The
di
ievereth tahrtuattvhhee thethey
a was,
jseuailto uosf
theo the progress wryhiocohmtmh:etteti so youngerfar., officeswast
to the
effect that the old offices had never at a similar period
of their existence been so prosperous or stable as were
pamphlet had lately been
twhreittyzunbgyoffiacems
ria.owd A
hristie secretary of a Scotch
life assurance office, attempting Christie, secretary
to show that the
English offices were based on a wrong principle,
and that they knew it,
andthat truth and science
had taken up their abode in Scotch offices - alone.
He also asserted that, to conduct a guarantee busi-
ness, all claims ought to be taken as falling due within the
year, thus putting the morality of the English public on
the same level as their common sense. In conclusion, he
thanked them most kindly for the compliment which
they had paid to the efforts of himself and his tollea.gues,
which passed as a matter of course, but so king
as human vanity remained all-paramount, euch.cempii-
ments would fall gratefully on the ear, and be thankfully
received by those persons for whom they were intended.
On the motion of Mr. BARER, seconded by Mr. HLI,.
WELL,
a vote of thanks to the
1 ieh
see itnoedthie
n medicalevery
yr officers,,
espeeiti , 0 -st-.
sitis.
DThre. tmAheYaenntlinssgrw:wetrue7vedoted tot hankesr.
fcahairan
ctormy,then separated, aft: