The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-10 00:00:00

I:2iTRIES FOR THURSDAY,

Match.---SadOle, Bst 111 b, agst St. Ann, 7st. 100, h
T.Y.C.
Sweepstakes fot • two and three years old. First half o

I METROPOLITAN COUNTIES AND
(;EN Y ...L WI.; ASSURANCE SOCIETY.

J. Lit; in atuluai this
was held yesterday, at the office of the society, 27,
Regent-street, Waterloo-place, for the purpose of
laying the report of the directors for the past year,
before the proprietors, and of electing four
directors in the place of Samuel Driver, Esq.,
H. P. Fuller, Esq., Edward Vansittart Neale,
Esq., and Sir Thomas Newby Reeve, who
went out of office by rotation, but who,
being eligible for re-election, had offered themselves
accordingly, and two auditors in the stead of Thomas
Bates, Esq., and H. P. Buckler, Esq., who was also
eligible for re-election.

Captain the Hon. G. F. Ho'num was called to the
chair; and among the gentlemen present we noticed
Samuel Driver, Esq., Henry Peter Fuller, Esq.,
John Palk Griffin, Esq., Edward Legh, Esq.,
Thomas Littledale, Esq. (Liverpool), Edward Lo-
max, Esq., Samuel Miller, Esq., E. Vansittart
Neale, Esq., William Studley, Esq., W. A. S.
Westoby, Esq., James Bird, Esq., W. Fisher, Esq.
(Liverpool), J. S. Streeter, Esq., G. A. Young, Esq.,
T. J. Hay, Esq., S. Lee Trotman, Esq., &c.
F. FERGUSON CAMBOUX, Esq., the Manager, read
the report, which was as follows :
" The first report of any society may be expected
to lay before its members a more detailed statement
of the circumstances under which it was founded,
and of its claims to public support and confidence,
than may be looked for or required at a more advanced
stage of its existence ; and in the case of a new Life
Assurance Society this explanation is peculiarly
desired, in consequence of the numerous institutions,
of a similar nature and of an older date, with which
it is called upon to compete.
" The directors of the Metropolitan Counties and
General Life Assurance Society feel justified, there-
fore, in directing attention to those peculiar features
in the con3titution of this society, and in the nature
of the business undertaken by it, which have already
produced the most flattering results, and from which
they have every reason to anticipate a most success-
ful career.

" The field of life assurance is indeed already oc-
cupied by many labourers, but the power of produc-
tion is infinitely greater than has been called forth
by any cultivation hitherto bestowed upon it. Thus
it is estimated, that the ►hole number of policies now
existing in England and Wales, does not exceed
200,000: and of these there are so many cases where
the same individual possesses more than one policy,
that the actual number of persons whose lives are
assured cannot be estimated at more than 150,000.
Comparing this number with the entire population
and wealth of this country, it may be confidently
anticipated that when the advantages of life assurance
shall have become more generally understood and
appreciated, a vast increase must necessarily take
place in the present amount of life assurance business.
" On grounds common to this society and other
Assurance Offices, it may then be affirmed, that the
success of any new society of this description,
where the rates of assurance are not reduced
below the fair standard, and where the management
is characterised by activity and integrity, is a
►natter of reasonable certainty. Of the tables of rates
under which the business of this society is conducted,
the directors can speak with the most perfect confi-
dence ; they were not adopted until after the most
careful and searching examination ; and the directors
feel assured that they will bear comparison with those
of any other well-regulated office.
" The society possesses, however, a distinguishing
feature, which affords more than ordinary grounds
for anticipating the most successful results. This
feature is the combination of life assurance with ad-
vances of money upon the security of real property,
repayable by periodical instalments. To those who
are aware of the great extent to which loans of this
kind are effected in what are known as building socie-
ties, end of the very considerable profits which those
societies realise, the expectation of deriving
a large income from this source will appear by no
means problematical. The investment of the capital
of the Society in such advances must therefore secure
to those who are assured in it upon the participating
scale, the prospect of large bonuses; and to the
capitalist who may invest his money in the shares of
the society, the certainty of large returns, coupled
with the most ample security. To both these
classes of persons then—to those who are desirous
of making provision against the uncertainty of life
by assurance, and to those who seek for a safe and
profitable investment for their capital—this society
presents peculiar attractions. Each class will aid the
other in attaining the end sought by itself; and there
are therefore the strongest grounds for expecting the
support of both. The borrowers from the society
have also their peculiar advantage in the power of
gradually paying off the advances made to them,
thereby equalising the pressure upon their resources,
while at the same time they possess the consoling re-
flection, that if death should in the meanwhile snatch

hem away, their property will be left to their fami-
ies, discharged from the loan.

" For the above reasons, the founders of the society
considered themselves justified in anticipating that a
large share of the public favour would be accorded to
it; and the experience of the past year, notwith-
standing the serious and almost unexampled depres-
sion in all branches of trade by which it has been so
unhappily characterised, affords them the strongest
grounds for believing that this anticipation will be
most fully realised.
"The operations of the society are far from being
confined to the Metropolitan districts : in many parts
of the country it has met with a most favourable re-
ception. In the important town of Liverpool the
directors have succeeded in establishing a branch
board, consisting of gentlemen possessing a large
local influence, and whose names are calculated
to insure a considerable amount of business to the
society. The chairman of that board, Mr. Thomas
Littledale (one of your directors), is so well
known and so highly respected in that important
town and the adjacent country, that his name cannot
fail to impart the most perfect confidence in the so-
ciety's operations there; while the close connexion of
Liverpool with Manchester, and the manufacturing
districts, insures their participating in the feelings of
their enterprising neighbour.
" The directors have also succeeded in obtaining no
less than 176 very eligible agents in the provincial
towns of England, and 24 in the metropolis. One
active and intelligent agent has been appointed, on
his own application, at Inverness, but, with this ex-
ception, the directors have for the present confined
their efforts for the establishment of agencies to
England.
" The connexion which has been thus established
has already produced no inconsiderable fruits. Up to
the 30th ultimo the society has issued 212 policies,
assuring sums to the amount of 67,8011., and pro-
ducing an annual income of 2,2361. ss. 11d.
" As the result of the exertions during the last ten

months, these numbers, even taken in the gross, are
very satisfactory, but when examined more closely, a
steady increase of a most encouraging character will
be found in the account of policies effected. Com-
mencing with the month of August last, when the
policies taken out by the directors and other officers
of the society as a part of their qualification, had been
exhausted, the return of ordinary life polices issued by
the society during the succeeding eight months, is as
follows :

Number of Policies issued Amount assured
Months. in each Month. by Policies.
August ... 4 ... £2,100
September ... 11 ... 1,970
October ... ... 1g ... ... 4,650
November ... ... 22 ... ... 5,550
December ... 23 ... 6.500
January ... 25 ... 7,347

February
March
April

... 29 ..
... 31 ...
... 33 ...

... 8,850
... 10,048
... 11,1►68

" While there are now under the consideration of
the board, or awaiting completion, 63 proposals for
assurance, amounting to 23,5001.
" The character of the medical staff "of the society
is, of itself, a security that the number of assurances
effected has not been swelled by the admission of,
questionable lives. But if further evidence were:
wanting of the care with which the lives accepted
have been selected, it would be supplied by the fact
that the directors have rejected, during the course of
the year, proposals for assurance involving sums
amounting to no less than 12,6801.
" The directors have to contragulate the proprie-
tors upon their success in obtaining possession of the
highly desirable premises where the business of the
society is now carried on.

zealLsTelseervies eand efficiency
have of the s
staff of officers
w
the directors
been fortunate as
to secure, cannot be too highly spoken of. The
directors would express their sincere conviction that
DO assurance society can be better served than this
society is by its medical officers, on whose skill and care
in the examination of the lives so much of the ulr
mate success of the society must necessarily depend':
In addition to the regular discharge of his official
duties, Dr. Fuller has matured and laid before the
directors a highly ingenious and novel plan for ex-
tending the assurance of endowments to all the
children of a marriage, by means of payments made
at the time or the marriage. A detailed statement of
this plan will be given in a separate notice ; and it is
here only necessary to add that it is one from which
the directors anticipate results highly beneficial to the
society.
"Nor have the directors less reason to congratulate
the society on having obtained the very efficient
services of Mr. Camroux as manager, and of Captain
Addison as provincial superintendent. They feel that
much of the success which has attended upon the