The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

211 E PRoTEC7OR ENDO WMEN2 LOAN
AND ANNUITY COMPANY.

The annual meeting of this company was held
yesterday afternoon at the offices, 34, King-street,
Cheapside--ALFRED SMEE, Esq., in the chair.
Mr. A. ANUORRAN (the secretary) read the
notice convening the meeting, and the report of the
directors, which was as follows :
The directors submit to the general meeting a report of
the pro:',edings of the company during the past year,
together with a statement of income and expenditure.
Five hundred and six' y-one proposals were made during
the year for advances of money, for the aggregate sum of
£113,650 ; of these, 267 were granted, amounting to the
sum of £52,103 13s. 4d., for terms varying, from one to five

years.
The busiuess transacted has exceeded that of the year
previous by about £4,500•
The directors have caused a valuation to be made of the
assets and liabilities of the company to the end of Decem-
ber, 1868, and the balance-sheet shows a surplus of £10,591
13s. 10d.

In making this valuation, the Board directed that 20 per
nen'. should hr, written cif preliminary expenses, and by
degrees that Peru will be entirely extinguished.
The balance-sheet cannot fail to bo regarded as highly
satisfactory, and indicates a continuous healthy develop-
ment and growth of the company.

The directors retiring by rotation are Joseph Williams,
Esq., and J. L. Hancock, Esq., and the Board recommend
that their names constitute the list for re-election.

The company's auditors, G. H. Ladbury, Esq., and H.
C. T. Beadnell, Esq., also retire.
The directors recommend that the interest on share-
holders' stock be at the rate, for the current year, of 10
per :cent. per annum on the called-up capital of £1 per
share.

The CHAIRMAN said it afforded him very great
pleasure to rise to move "that the report and state-
ment of income and expenditure, and statement of
assets and liabilities, be received and adopted." The
first item in the statement of assets and liabilities
which attracted their attention was naturally the
one of £10,591 13s. 10.3., which was the surplus
amount, after allowing for all their liabilities. That,
he thought they would say, was exceedingly sati--
factory. (Hear, hear.) Their valuations were
made periodically. The deed originally provided
that a valuation should be made every three years,
but subsequently a meeting of shareholders recom-
mended that it should be made every five years.
The board, however, had thought it advisable in
these times to go back to the provision of the origi-
nal deed, and, as he promised at the last meeting,
a valuation had been made during the past p ar.
Now, at the two preceding valuations made in
1862 and 1865 the surplus was £1,242 and
£7,000 respectively ; and in the year just closed
it had risen to £10,591. (Hear, hear.) Al-
though that was very satisfactory, it did not
represent the measure of their satisfaction, be-
cause on the former occasion the preliminary ex-
penses—the cost of making their agencies, and of
their books, furniture, and other fittings sto:;d at
£7,3oo—whereas the board had written off 20 per
cent. of that sum, amounting to £1,478, and the
item now stood at only £5,912. So that literally
the company had improved to £10,591, plus the
£1,478 which had been written off. (Hear, hear.)
They had only to go on in that way for a few years
more, and, as he had pointed out at their previous
meetings, their dividends would be highly gratifying.
In making this valuation, they not only valued all
the assets with the greatest strictness, but allowed
for the same percentage of losses in the future as
they had experienced in the past. The losses of this
company were reduced to such an exact average that
they could tell to the greatest nicety what loss they
might expect in the future, if they carried on their
proceedings in the same careful manner that they had
done hitherto. Now, if they looked to the growth
of the company they would find that in 1862 they
had 152,779 out on loan ; in 1865 it was £103,355 ;
and in 1868, £123,708. S) that their assets out
upon loan were continually and satisfactorily increas-
ing. So also their advances. In 1862 they advanced
£31,525; in 1865, £50,498 ; and in 1868, £52,103.
If the shareholders would like a sort of vision into
what was likely to happen for the current year, he
would state that up to this time in 1867 they had
advanced £5,220 ; in 1868, £5,445 ; and this year,
£9,456. (Hear, hear.) The business, therefore, was
increasing in a most satisfactory manner. lie
thought they would regard it as all the more satis-
factory when they remembered what they had gone
through in the last threp years. Unquestionably,
there had never been a period like that in the history
or this country; and he hoped there never might be
again. But if during the three worst years this
country had ever known they could increase their
surplus assets from £7,000 to £lO,OOO. then he
thought they might well say that the company was
in a most satisfactory state. (Hear.) He would also
point out that in the valuation of their affairs they
had all their paid-up capital stock intact ; every far-
thing that had been placed there by the shareholders
and the depositors was in the concern ; every far-
thing due upon the annuities was now invested, and
everything required for the assurance premiums was
there also ; and, therefore, their surplus was a bona
fide surplus, after providing for all these deductions
and contingencies. (Hear, hear.) He hoped they
would go on as they had continued to do for several
years. The two branches of the business which
they most encouraged and were most developing
were those of receiving money on deposit, and loan-
ing it out upon security. And he did not know any-
thing that could be more useful than this company
was to trustees and others having money, to put it
there at interest awaiting more permanent invest-
ment. When the ordinary rate of interest went
up or down it made no difference to this company,
as they took one constant standard at 5 per cent.,
and they could do this because they took money
for a considerable period and lent it out in the
same way. Altogether the company was progress.
ing as satisfactorily as they could possibly desire.
(Cheers.) Ile then moved the adoption of the
report and statement of accounts which had been
read.

Mr. DEVONSHIRE seconded the motion, which
was carried unanimously.
Mr. TOLMAN proposed that a dividend on the
shareholders' stock for the current year be at the
rate of 10 per cent. per annum on the paid-up
capital of £1 per share, and £5 per cent, on sums
beyond £1 paid in advance, which was at once
carried. _ _

The directors who retired were Mr. Joseph
Williams, and Mr. J. L. llancock, who were re-
elected, as also were the auditors, Mr. G. 11. Lad-
bury, and H. C. T. Beadnell.
A vote of thanks having been presented to the
chairman and board of directors,
The CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, assured the
meeting that this company required a great deal of
care and attention on their part to see that it was
properly conducted, and that the money was in-
vested in the most advantageous manlier. Every
application that came before them was most care-
fully and critically examined, and if hey thought
it ought to be granted, it was granted. No appli-
cant had ever come to them for a loan and been re -
fused, if he was capable of giving them the security
they required. Every one who applied for a loan
had to pay one guinea inquiry fee, and although
the press had written against this practice, still if the
fee were not enforced the company would never be
able to conduct its business. It would not do for
the board to be at the cost and labour of investiga•
ting a case unless the applicant felt he had suffi•
cient confidence in it himself to justify Lim in pay-
ing down the money. (Hear, hear.) Under this
system the losses of the company were a little over
1 per cent. He thought that, havinL, thanked the
directors, the thanks of the shareholders oa,e'it also
to be given to those iu immediate charge,
M'Alorran, the secretary, and Mr. Pinkney, vho
were most zealous in conducting the business, and
did their best in the interest of all parties. They
had the thorough confidence of the board, and he
should ask the shareholders to give them a cordial
vote of thanks. (Cheers.)
Mr. ToLm.ms seconded the motion, which was
carried unanimously.
Mr. Al‘MonnAN thanked them very much for this
recognition of his services, and that of the staff, and
said they always did their utmost to forward the
interests of the company.
The meeting then broke up. -

The Times remarks that the House of Commons on
Thursday night had another lesson on the cost of glory.
The Abyssinian expedition was complete and immaculate.
But, alas ! the prose of common life supervenes. On the
one side of the medal we read of the chivalrous pursuit of
unselfish duty, on the other a bloated income-tax. We
ask, with Mr. White, what is the explanation of this
" monstrous discrepancy " between estimate and reality?
Neither the late Government nor the present seems able to
give an answer. Mr. Hunt confessed the amount of the
charge had taken himself and, he believed, his late col-
leagues by surprise. It was not until the 10th of August
that the late Ministry received accounts from India lead-
ing them to suppose the estimate would be exceeded, and
the excess, then moderate, jumped up a couple of millions or
more as recently as December. Sir Stafford Northcote, as
the ex-Secretary for India, explained that the estimates
sent home had been loose and vague, and the Government
had always thought it prudent to go beyond them in the
estimates laid before Parliament. The truth seems to be
that the Bombay Government was regardless of expense ;
and Mr. Gladstone was justified in his reticence when,
summing up the discussion, he expressed himself not pre-
pared, in the absence of fuller information, to say whether
the Government of Bombay deserved all the credit given
to it by the present Opposition. As it is, it was but too
evident on Thursday night that, the expense having been
incurred, we can do nothing but "grin and bear
it." The Indian Government had something like carte
blanche—had, at all events, ample authority for
what they did, and are naturally enough pressing
to be repaid the money they had expended. How Mr.
Lowe will contrive to reimburse them was not on Thursday
explained ; but the obligation cannot be avoided ; and,
indeed, if it were not promptly met the Indian Finance
Minister might claim interest on the debt at the rate pre-
valent in India. We fear the result will be a deficit on
on the financial year 1868-9. At present we are in the
humiliating position of a person who has had his fete, his
gala-day, his triumph, and finds at the end of his glory
that the bill is very much in excess of his anticipation.
The best he can do is to resolve to be more prudent before
he adventures upon a repetition of his magnificence, and
this reflection he keeps to himself.
The Standard thinks that the success of the Abyssinian
expedition surpassed the most sanguine expectations, and
the cost now turns out to have exceeded the most despond.
ing estimates. We speak, of course, of the expectations
and estimates of those entitled by their knowledge of the
question to offer an opinion upon it. There were people
who insisted that the British army would have nothing to
do but to land on the Abyssinian coast to bring King
Theodore to reason; and there were others who declared
that the expenditure would cost, at least, ten
millions, and then prove a signal failure. Mr.
James White thinks that these prophets of evil
have proved their prescience by the supplemental
estimate which the Chanchellor of the Exchequer moved
on Thursday. He professed to be humiliated that the expe-
dition had cost us more than the annihilation of Austria
by Prussia. Mr. White has not gone through the accounts
of the Prussian Government ; but if the honourable gentle-

man will strike off the five millions which the contiguity
of the frontier spared the Prussian Government for sea
transport he will find that the computation comes out
much better for this country. That, however, is a
question for Mr. White, and not for the country—which
has only to ask whether the late Government shewed a
want of candour or of care in its dealings with Parliament
in the matter. The two members of that Government
immediately responsible for its conduct proved beyond
all doubt, what, indeed, no well-informed honest man can
doubt, that they obtained the best information it was
possible to get, and treated the House of Commons with
the utmost frankness. Still, if Mr. White wants a com-
mittee, let him by all means have one when the accounts
come ; only let in common fairness it be an instruction to
the committee to inquire, as Sir George Jenkinson
suggested, into the mismanagement which rendered am
expedition necessary.

The Post thinks that there was much force in Mr
Bruce's remark that the existing legitimate practices at
elections are still more demoralising than those which the
Legislature has formally condemned. The uproar and
riot of nomination days ; the numerous public-houses
converted into committee-rooms, without committees to
occupy them; the crowds of paid canvassers who again
and again pester unhappy electors, less for the sake of
gaining their votes than of making a pretence of earning
the wages which are paid to them ; the variety of modes
in which money may be spent, and under the
existing system is expected to be spent, by any
one ambitious of senatorial honours, and which have never
been more conclusively or abundantly demonstrated than
by the published returns of the expenses incurred by can-
didates at the late general election ; all these bear evidence
to the truth and justice of the Home Secretary's opinion.
Sham employment has become the convenient cloak under
which wealthy men now disburse the money which was
formerly given in secret bribery ; and the misfortune is
that the present law is apparently ineffectual to tear
down the screen. Otherwise it is impossible to under-
stand the decisions pronounced recently by some of
the judges, affirming the perfect legality of spending
several thousand pounds in boroughs numbering some two
or three hundred electors. The present law is not suffi-
cient for the purpose for which it was framed, and Par•
liament must strike still deeper if they would extirpate
the evil. The select committee for which Mr. Bruce
asked seems to offer a reasonable mode of obtaining all
the necessary information on which further legislation
should be based ; and when that information is supplied,
the good faith of the Reformed Parliament will be put to
a test which will, we hope, prove that the confidence
reposed in it by the new constituency is not misplaced.
The Daily News approves of the course that has been
taken by the Conservative leader, and says that until the
last few days an impressionhas prevailed that Mr. Disraeli
would not make any serious resistance to the second read-
ing of Mr. Gladstone's Irish Church Bill, but that
the great battle would be fought in committee.
The belief had probably no positive foundation, but
grew out of a general consideration Of the hopeless-
ness of Conservative resistance. We are glad, how-
ever, to find that it was erroneous, and that, as was an-
nounced on Thursday night in the House of Commons, when
Mr. Gladstone makes his motion on Thursday week, Mr.
Disraeli will move that the bill be read a second time that
day six months. This is undoubtedly the worthier course
to take. The division upon the motion for a second reading
will determine the question of principle, and that once
settled, it is inconceivable that the Conservatives should
expect to get better terms for the Irish Church than those
which ➢ir. Gladstone has liberally included in his bill.
Unless we miscalculate, the progress of the measure will
be greatly facilitated by Mr. Disraeli's determination.

The Telegraph refers to the Home Secretary moving for
a select committee "to inquire into the present mode of
conducting Parliamentary and municipal elections,in order '
to provide further guarantees for their tranquillity, purity,
and freedom," and says that is an old tale. Every Govern-
ment, for the last thirty years, has acknowledged that the
expenses and the evils of such contests " have increased,
are increasing, and ought to be diminished." But Mr.
Bruce made the admission in remarkable terms.
He pointed out the enormous evils of the
present system. Ile reminded the House how
vast is the cost of a seat, how many bribes are taken, how
many beer-taps are kept flowing, how many heads are
broken. And then he appeared for a time to fence with
the question, What is the remedy ? He seemed to put off
the answer, although the answer was on the lips of all.
At last he uttered the words " Secret voting ;" and
immediately the cheers from the Liberal side were
deafening. As Mr. Bruce explained, the Govern-
ment did not commit itself to the opinion that vote
by Ballot must become part of the electoral law;
but that such was the convictions of the Home Secre-
tary himself he did not allow anybody to entertain
the slightest doubt; and amid ringing cheers, he added
the remarkable declaration that he moved for a committee
mainly and principally to see whether it was or was not
expedient to introduce the ballot into our electoral system. '
Mr. Gathorne Hardy justly protested against any attempt
to fetter, or even to bias, the committee ; and Mr. Glad-
stone assured the right honourable gentleman that, as
yet, the question was entirely open, and that he had not
the slightest wish to dictate the conclusion to which
the committee should come. That is the proper
way to approach the matter. Let us have the truth
out. Let us examine all the facts. Let us see what elec-
toral virtue is overcome by the whisper or the bludgeon of
intimidation. Let us ascertain what are the hardships
inflicted by open voting. Such is the wish of Mr. Glad-
stone and Mr. Hardy, of the Liberal party and the Con-
servatives, of the House of Commons and the country.
The Liberals enter the contest with the desire to give fair
play, but with as much confidence in the result as that
which inspired the Crusading knights when they crossed
swords with their Paynim foes ; and the cheers that
greeted Mr. Bruce's declaration of faith in the Ballot were
the herald-note of victory.
The Star rejoices that the Ballot is in sight. Mr.
Bruce made an excellentfer
the cmomanmlyittseteatwemhieenh was recom-
mendediite:t andan aspect ton Thurs-
day night, in moving
sSpee
effortsch,and to
after placing in the
our
Qeenaull
previous secure electoral
confessed that the main object of the
committee
mode o f secret
those
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ivniotteritthiarinsvfaohnrea
and the Ballot offers to cure election,(ll°°
which contributes more to demoralise
- -considerable cumber of supporters both evils at once. The
Cabiret contains a
sixteens e re t
yearsvoting,
of aralto
neutrality,t:
theha Home Secretary.
s be e add ii d
:1\ afterrr.
Gladstone has nethine t,i cloak, for he Is distinet!y
Ballot if the committee
stated that lie is prepared f 4 tie
should e:;rablisli its iieet n
eisityo;
doubt, expressed and Lorde Harlington,
has,in following suit,
determination of the patrician
Government. Everything here e
aboveboard, and, as House of Commons ercstobionormofigitelellyse
are always ostensibly impartial, it can only be throuoi
very great neglect on the part of those who oppose the
Ballot if open voting is not well defended. Mr. Bruce's
sketch of the evils of our election system on Thursday
night was very complete. The most important part of bis
speech, however, was the broad recognition of the facts
that the people know there is a remedy, and that the time
has come when the Government can no longer pretend to
be indifferent to it. This is a confession which must
fructify speedily into the one security for the purity and
freedom of elections which experience Las stamped with ;
the insignia of success,