The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-05 00:00:00

MORNING SUN.

UNITED KINGDOM LIFE' ASSU-
RANCE COMPANY.

DIVISION OF PROFITS TO THE PROPRIE-

TORS, AND TO THE ASSURED.
The First General Meeting of the Proprietors of this
Company, which commenced business on the Ist March,
1834, was held at their Office, No. 8, Waterino-place, on
Thursday, July 1, 1841, and was very numerously at-
telided. WILLIAk PLASKET. Esq., Deputy Chairman of
the Board of Directors, in the Chair.
The Report of the Directors submitted to the meeting
stated, that in 1834 the Company was established by Act
of Parliament, and subsequently by deed of settlement,
under which they were required to make a division of
profit-, not sooner than 1839, nor later than 1841. The
Report also stated, that before making the division, the
• Directors had remitted to their Actuary, Mr. John King,
to examine the books and accounts of the Company, and
the; his Report of the 23d of June, 1841, laid before the
Meeting, fully justified the Directors to appropriate 2
per cent. per annum to the persons holding assurances at
the participating rate of premiums, and 11. per share to
the Proprietors, as an increase to the value of their shares,
on the Ist day of January, 1841.
The Report having been read, Mr. STUART said, that
the information contained in it could not, he was per-
suaded, fail to be considered very satisfactory. The Pr-
oprietors having at the ensl of seven years after the
establishment of the Company, obtained an addition of
one-half to the sums paid by them ; and the persons
holding assurances at the higher or participating rate,
having had 2 per cent. per annum appropriated to them
from the dates of their policies,-to be applied, at their
optiV, either as an increase to the amounts due on their
policies when they became exigible, or in diminution of
the annual premiums paid on them. There were still,
however, some details relative to the success of the esta-
blishment, which it might be desirable for the Proprie-
tors to be made acquainted with, and which he would
take the liberty of communicating, having been one of
the original Proprietors of the Company, and a Director
or Chairman of the Boax.l. of Directors from the com-
mencement of the establishment.
In the first place, the meeting would be gratified to
learn that, although they had now got an addition of
one-half made to their shares of the stock of the Com-
pany in the short space of seven years (that is to say, a
holder of one hundred shares, who had paid the only
call of 2/. per share, amounting to 200/., on which four
per cent. per annum had been paid half-yearly since the
date of the payment, has now had that sum increased to
3001., bearing interest at four'per cent. from the Ist of
January, 1841, the result of which is to give him six
per cent. onethe original sum advanced, payable half-
yearly since the Ist of January. 1841), a greater sum
had been appropriated to those holdingparticipating assur-
ances from this Company, than,had hitherto been allo-
cated to them by any other Assurance Company within
the period of six yearsi and ten months from the com-
mencement of their transacting business, on the Ist of
March, 1834, to the Ist of January, 1841, and this
result had taken place although the participating rates
payable to this Company for all lives at and under forty-
, tire years of age, are lower than those of any of the
Companies which have, during the first seven years of
their management, made any division of profits to
those holding assurances nearly approaching in amount '
' to that now made by this Company. Thus, for example,
the Atlas Assurance Company of London, a very re-
spectable Company, which has been established for
thirty-three years, at their last division of profits in
1837, added to a policy"for 1,0001. on a life of twenty,
which had been in force for seven years preceding
721., on a life of thirty 76/., and of forty 84/. ; and the
Stan4ard Life Assurance Gompany of Edinburgh, also
a very respectable Company, at their divisions of profits
in 1835 and 1840, added 11 per cent. for each year: to the
sums assured ; but this Company, as shown by the Report
of the Directors, has, from the very commencement of
its operations, and from the dates of each policy, appro-
priated 2 per cent. per annum to those holding partici-
• paling assurances, without reference to the age of the
individuals, so that the addition to a policy for 1,0001. in
force for the six years and ten months during which the
Company has been established, 'previous to Ist of
January last, is*l36/.• 13s. 4d. instead of 72/. or 84L, the
sum paid by the Atlas Company, or 83/. Bs. 4d. by the
Standard Caapany. The rate of assurance payable to
the Atlas. Company for a life of twenty, is 2/. 3s. 7d.,
and to the Standard Company, "2/. Is. ld. ; for a life of
• - thirfylo.the Atlas Company, 2/. 13s. Sd., and to the
Ste-reined Company, 21. 10s. 7d. ; and for a life of forty
-Moho Atlas Company,, 3/. 7s. lid., and tp the Standard
. Itnnpany, 3/. 4s. lid., whereas the participating rate
• payable to this 'Company for a life of twenty, is only
IL 18s. Bd. ; for a life of thirty, 2/. Bs. 2de; and for a
Jife of forty, 31. 3s. 4d.
In the second place, it had fortunately, and by the care-
'fl choice of lives, turned out that the number of
.deaths
• eof those assured led, since the commencement of the
Company, assuming the mean age of those assured to be
50, which is under the, mark, been only 56 out of 158,
nearly 'the number provided for in the tables of the Equi-
o table Society of London. The whole losses too on
1,104,258/. 4s. 3d.; the total sum assured by the Corn-
. pang, amounted previous -to Ist. January, to .41,777/. 9s.
3d., but of that loss, a very large proportion, no less than
18,528/. 13s. 10d. had been sullied by the sums received
for lapsed policies. The sums assured during the first
seven years of the. Establishment averaged for each year•
above 150,000/., a very large sum in relation to the sums
assured by tither Assurance Companies. For eNample,
the animal average of the sums assured, for the twenty-
seven years of its existence, by the Scottish Widows'
Fund Society, one of the greatest in the empire, was only
190,0001. The business of this Company was at the same
time rapidly increasing, of which the most convincing
evidence is, that by a reference to the book of policies, it
would be found that the amount assured by new policies
during the year 1840, exceeded a quarter of a million,
viz. 271,560/.
Thirdly, the Company had hitherto been so managed
that it had sustained no serious, nor, as a Life Assurance
Company, unexpected loss of any kind. The bad and
doubtful debts, although the Company now had an in-
creasing revenue of above 40,000/. a year, only amounted in
seven years to 5481. 35..11d., and the law charges, includ-
ing the expense of obtaining the Act of Parliament for
the Company, and of framing and completing the deed of
settlement, in the same period only amounted to
726/. 15s. 7d.
The progressive prosperity and stability
.of the Com-
pany were guaranteed, not only by the success which
Rad attended the management for seven years, and which
had shown the calculations, on which the Cempany was
founded, to be correctly framed so as to insure results
• favourable for the Proprietors, and for the parties hold-
ing participating assurances, but were also secured by
the original constitution of the Company, confirmed by
the deed of settlerhent, which prevents the possibility of
any part of the capital being suddenly withdrawn, and
provides for the extension of the capital as the concerns
of the Company increase. The profits of the Proprie-
tors to be, hereafter, in terms of the deed, declared at
intervals of not less than five nor more than seven years,
are not lei be paid over to the Proprietors for the time, but
can only be added to their shares, as an additional pay-
ment bearing interest to them at 4/. per cent. ; and the
profits to the persons holding assurances can, only be ap-
propriated as an 'increase to the amounts due on their
policies, when they become exigible, or in diminution of
the annual premiums payable on them.
Upon the whole, therefore, he flattered himself, that he
might be permitted to congratulate this the first meeting
of Proprietors of the Company on their present state and
prospects. He was sure that he only gave utterance to
the sentiments of all the Directors in ascribing their'
flourishing circumstances to the indefatigable ekertions
End energy, and, at his advanced period of life, to the
traordinary activity and zeal of the founder of the Com-
pany, the Resident Director, Mr. Boyd. He was at the
same time bound to add; that the Directors are under
great obligations to Mr. Boyd for his judicious selection
of their medical adviser, Mr. Hale Thomson, whose re-
ports to them have been uniformly clear and decided, as
well as candid and disinterested. It would be a great
omission were he not also to express his conviction, that
adbpted by the Directors, of allowing
Mr. Boyd's scheme,
five years' credit of half the amount of premiums of as-
aurance for life policies, had operated i vo.esryt
obalevineirnfigcifia:yt
for the Company. Other Companies
.atdoffollhowed their
example in this respect, but the mbeeron
suggested and acted on this'plan
and it had certainly tended very' considerably to incEroeyasde,
the business of the Company.
He might perhaps be allowed before concluding,to!uggest
to the meeting the propriety of authorising the Directors
to subscribe such a sum as they of the
,Reformers' think proper, in
aid of the expenses incurred by the Proprietors
,Reformers' Gazette Newspaper of .Glasgovc, in i
.
quence of their published detections of the fraudulent
independent West Middlesex Assurance Compath e
ny.
Companies of that description did infinite injury to
public, but most especially to such Societies as that in
which all present at the meeting are interested, and it
'was therefore their duty to lend their assistance in put-
ting them down.
The meeting, on the motion of Mr. John Connell,
unanimously approved the Report and Statement laid
before them, and offered their best thanks to the Board
of Directors for their great attention and zeal in con-
ducting the business of the Company. They also autho-
rised the Directors to subscribe such a sum as they
thought proper in aid of the expenses before alluded to,
incurred by the Proprietors of the Reformers' Gazette.
Finally, they tendered their most grateful acknoW-
ledgenents to the Resident Director, Mr. Boyd, for the
uncommon pains he had taken in the year 1834, in form-
itig and establishing the Company, and for the ability,
caution, and care, with which he had uniformly managed
their concerns, and which had enabled the Directors to
communicate the favourable results made known in their
• Report.

SHOCKING OCCURRE,NCE IN LAMBETH
tonKuousE.—On Saturday morning at an early hour
a very ()Teat sensation was produced in Lambeth Work-
house, in consequence of the following distressing.occur-
rence. It appears that two infants, of ages of twelve
and fourteen months, pauper children in the house, Were
in the habit of sleeping with a girl about fourteen years
old. On Friday night both the children were in health,
and went to bed with the girl in question. In the morn-
ing, as above stated, on one of the nurses going into the
sleeping-ward, where the children were, she' was shocked
at finding them both apparently lifeless. The girl 4as
still sound asleep, and from the position she was lying in
it is much to be feared that she was the cause of their
deaths by overlaying them. Mr. Duke, a surgeon, was
sent for, who endeavoured to restore the innocents, but
ineffectually. The children were orphans, and have been
in the house several months.

We leani from Leipsic, 22d ult., that the wool
fair, which has just been held there, has been more favourable
for the sellers than any of the other fairs for some years
past: Thq quantity of wool offered fur sale was 37,749 stein
(the steiff is about 201bs. mart.) The quantity sold was
33,6242 stein, and at very high prices. The first quality fetch
25 rix-dollars the stein, and the lowest quality 10 rix-dollars.
The average was about 2i ria-dollars beyond the price last year.
The rix-dollar is bf. 20c.