The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-26 00:00:00

THE PROTESTANT Fl RE AND LIFE IN-
SURANCE COMPANY v. BEAU If ONT:

(Before Mr. Baran Alderson and a special jury.)

• - - - -
KINGSTON, MAncu 25.—This was an action brought
to recover from the defendant, who is the managing•
director
,of the
_County. Fire Office, the sum of 2,300/.
upon two policieS of fire insurance for the respective
sums of 1,3001. and 1;000E, effected in the Protestant
office; . and which, it was alleged, tlre defendant was,
bound to pay under an .agreement made between the
parties. • • . .
, The defendant, artiong -.a number of other, pleas put
upon the record, pleaded that. no such agreement as the
One specified was ever made, and also that the plain-
tiffs had been guilty olfraud in the transaction.

Mr. •Eovill, Q.C., and Mr. }loneyman were counsel
for the plaintiffs.
Mi. E. James, Q.C., Mr. Lueb, and Mr. 13.awl:ins
were for the dvrendant.

It appeared from the speech of Mr. Bovill, that the Pro-
tystant Insurance Company was started' three or four years
ago, and that although they issued fire policies their
business was more connected with life insurance, and it
was their .custora to tran,frr all their fire policies to
other offices paying them the premiums, and merely
receiving a sort of ceturniAsion on the amount they paid.
In NOvember, 1854:an arrangtiment of this description
was ent«red into with the County Fire Office, but it
seemed that the basis of all the transactions was a letter
wr:tten by Mr. Beaumont, the defendant, in which be
expressed his readiness to accept of such policies as bad
been effected in the Protestant Office as his.agent should
select, and to become responsible for any loss that might
accrue in respect of those policies. Accordingly, it ap-
peared a number of polieis were transferred from Vie
Protestant office to the County, and among them the
two in question which were effected by a gentleman
named Middleton upon his stock-in-trade and a building
at Hull. The whole of the property was destroyed by I
fire on the 18th of December last, and it appeared 'that
upon the defendant being called upon to pay the pr.
hcies as it was contended he was bound to do under
his agreement, he declared that h•e was not liablt;,
and the present action was therefore brought ,to
try the question. There were a good many technical
points in the case, be, the substantial question to be de-
cided was whether under the letter that had been written
by the defendant the County Fire Mee was legally
bound to pay the policies in question.

Mr. G.'Dain, who stated that he was a Parliamentary
agent, and one of the board of directors of the Protestant
Fire and Life Office, and that he generally acted as
chairman, was called as a-witness. He Said it was the
custom of the company to re-insure in other offices all
their fire risks, and before the arrangement with' the
County they elid.so with -the London- and Liverpool.
The defendant was the manager of the County Fire
Office, and, in OCtober, 1845, he had an interview with
him upen the subject of transferring their'fire policies to
that office, and ()tithe 4th of November, he received
letter from the defendant, in which he consented to take
the policies that should he selected by his agent upon cer-
tain is inditions. (The letter was put in and read.) He did
not know whether any answer was sent, but he saw Mr.
Beaumont afterwards, and understood that the arrange-
ment contained in the letter was to be carried out, and
that the County was to be responsible fir all the risks
their agent selected. Mr. Middleton's policies were
among those that wore transferred from the Protestant'
Office to the County.
Cross•eaamined by Mr. James—l never beard that
the matter had been submitted to counsel, and that an
opinion had been given that the agreement on the form
contained in the letter was not legal and could not be
carried out. Several applications were made by the de-
fendant in the year 1855 for the amount of the premiums
that were dns upon the policies transferwed to the
County. I did not say to Mr. Candy, the solicitor to
the, County, that the Protestant had no money to pay
the premiums with. In August there were 401. or 501.
due to the County. The reason the money had not been
paid before was that there was a dispute respect:ng the
amount of allowance that was due to our company. . .
Mr. James—Upon your oath, had you the money to
pay with ?
Witness—l think we had. I could-have paid it mygrlf,
I will swear that the Protestant Company had as much
as 80/. at their bankers at the time. Ido not recollect
telling Mr. Candy that we had not got the money to
pay with. I believe Mr. Curdy told me that if the
premiums were not paid immediately; the County would
have nothing to do with the aff3tr. He did not say that
gt he County would not pay any of the policies if the pre-,
miurne were not handed over ; bat he did say that they
would not accept any fresh policies. In August I re-
ceived a letter from Mr. Cundy, in which he detnauded
591. 33. for premium"; and said that if the amount were
not paid immediately he should be compelled to take
proceedings to recover: it, and he honed the Protestant
Company would spare him the necessity of being com-
piled to adopt such a disagreeable proceeding. The
secretary of the County also wrote to us asking for the
money due, and'requesting that a sum of 491. to which
they were clearly etotitlfd might be at once transmitted;
leaving tle balance to be a subject for after disctu-sion.
Sent a cheque for the amount on the 21st of December.
I am not aware whether thie was after the fire at Hull.

Mr. James—Now, I ask you upon youroath, sir, and
I ask you to bo cautkuv, whether you sent that cheque
until after you 'had heard of the fire ?.
Witness—l had not seen any letttr from Mr. Middle-
ton, but I think.l had beard of the fire before I rent the
chequefur the amount of the premiums that were due.

Crosi-examination continued—l thick I:heard the fire
at Mr. Middleton's talked about in the office ; but it ,
was not cin'aecount of tbe fire happening that I pent the
cheque. Tiie money ought to bare been paid before,
but people did not always pay accounts. the nytinev.t,
they were doe, and thief wa4 the only reason he could
give far the ,delay. The tiro at 'Mr. Middleton's *as
mentioned in the etfice, and then it was pr.posed.that.
he shotild send a cheque for 491; to the Giunty. It
'was his own private cheque that he sent, and the amount
was Old nut of his own iunds, butle.was the treasurer
of the company at well as.the chairman, and it was all
the same thing. •
Mr. Jaines—As you were the treasurer, perhaps you
can give-sus some idea what amount of funds the com-
pany possessed at this time ?
Witness—No, I can Lot,. indeed. I have not got the
books,

Mr. James—Surely you can give us some idea what
amount the company had at their bankers' ?
Witnese-,-No, I cannot.

Mr. James—Had they 49/. ?
Witness—Ye,,, I will swear they hal 491, but I
cannot say how much more.
Cross-examined—l know that an action was tried at
York last week, in which Mr. Middleton sought td re
cover the amount of hie, policies from the company, but
I am not aware that the company pleaded that they had
no money to pay bun with. I have heard there was such
a plea. I cannot say whether a claim for 121. arising
out of a fire at Plymouth was mad) upon the office, and
they were unable to pay it. lam not certain about it.
Boron Alderson (to the witness)—Tio you mean to Fay
that you, as chairman of this coMpany, do not know
whether a claim %as made upon it f!q. the sum of 12/.,
and whether it was paid or not ? All I can say iyif it
be so, it i+ a very, singular state of things.
Cross-Examination continued—l cannot now Fay how
much money the company have at' their bankers'. I
know that they have PomOint I cannot say how much.
No Money was paid to the County under the agreement
until the cheque for 491. was sent in on the 21st of De-
cember, which was two days after the fire happened.
Mr. James—Hive* you issued any fresh policies to the
public after pleading that you bad no money to pay Mr.
Middloton'ti policies with ?
Witness—Yes. I believe that fresh policies hiye btsit
issued within the last few days.
Jaines—To what amount?
Witness-4 cannot say.-

The learned Judge said that he thought the examina-
tion was verging towards a criminal charge, and he
thought he Should caution the witness that he was not
bound to answer any questions that he thought would
criminate him. _ _

The witness then said that no fresh policies had been
issued—they were life policies. -
Mr. James—And supposing any. of the parties should
die, what money have you got to pay them with t Have
you got 59/..
Witness—Yes. We have 501. or 1001.; but I won't
go beyond that.
Re-examined—They would have paid Mr. Middleton's
policies with the money obtained from the County, who
they considered were liable. Their own company wss
completely registered according to Act of Parliament, .'
and they bad a great many responsible shareholders.
Mr.' R. Elderton' the secretary t' the Protestant Com-
pany, proved that be saw Mr. Beaumont upon the sub-
ject of the management referred to in his letter, and that
he told him it was quite sufficient, and that it was not ne-
cessary to have any formal agreement. He also said that •
a gentleman connected with the County went through
their list of fire policies, and accepted those only he
thought proper,. and among. tben2-Were those fM. •
Middleton. The 491. that was paid included the pre-
miums for those policies. He- believed he hi and of the
fire on the 19th. Dec., and the ebeqUe was eint iti on tbe
:lat. It was not accepted at fiat, but eventually are
ceipt was sent for the amount.
Cross.exarnined—
Bilieied he heatd of the fire on the
19th December. It was.the usual course for Mr. Bain to
sign cheques as treasurer. He asked him to sign the
cheque for 491., principally on account of his having
heard of the fire. He believed that at this time the com-
pany had funds to the amount of 2001. Could not say
how much money they had at the present time. Money
was continually going out and coming in. Before tiny
made the arrangement with the County. they had endow.
voured to make a similar one with the United Kingdom
Office. A fire bad not to his knowledge happened on-
the day the proposal was made, but he believed it turned
out that this was the case. He believed a claim had been
recently made upon'the company from Plymouth 'for the
sum of 191., and be had given instructious to their agent
there to pay it, and he trusted he had done so. He had
given hint orders to pay the amount, but he had re-
ceived no answer, and had not been to inquire for any
letters. He had 200/. of the company's money in his
hands, and he supposed.he would pay the amount that
was claimed.

In answer to further questions put by Mr. James, the
witness admitted that be beard of the fire on the Igth of
Dec., that the cheque was sent on the 21st, and that it
was not until the 24th that he wrote to the County to
inform them of the fire, and requeste4 them to send their
surveyor to investigate the matter, as it was one of ,the
cases in which they were interested.
Mr. James then addressed the jury for the defends&

He said that although he should not trouble them with
any remark upon the point of law,.which would more
properly be decided by his lordship, yet he would state
that the substantial defence to the present. action_ was ,
that the County Fire Office had never made any such I