The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-11 00:00:00

of the church it is impossible to describe ; it is en-
crusted with the richest and rarest marbles, and
is adorned with every art that painting, sculpture,
and taste could devise ; the chapels, altars, and
tombs are of surpassing splendour, and the whole,
in magnitude and magnificence, stands unparal-
leled." Altogether the attractions of this remark-
able panorama of Ancient and Modern Rome will
hardly fail to prove irresistible among the throng
of both travelled and untravelled Londoners.

INTERNATIONAL LIFE AS SURAA CE

SOCIETY.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.

The twenty-first annual meeting of the share-
holders of this society was held on Wednesday,
May 9, at the offices of the company, 142, Strand.
The meeting was very fully attended.
The chair was occupied by E. S. Symes, Esq., the
chairman of the company.
The usual routine business having been dis-
posed of,

The CHAIRMAN said it gave him groat pleasure
to see so large a number of shareholders present; it
was always better that people should look a little
after their own affairs, and it gave him an oppor-
tunity of affording any explanations they might
require. (Hear, hear.) He would now call upon
the Secretary to read the report of the directors
and actuary on the present position of the society.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. RICHARDSON then read as follows :
" DIRECTORS' REPORT.

" The directors have much gratification in meeting their
co-proprietors at this the 21st annual general meeting of
the society, it being also the first quinquennial period since
the alteration was effected by whiih the profits of the society
are ascertained once in five years only, instead of annually,
as formerly.

" It is, therefore, the duty of the directors to lay before
the meeting the balance-sheets showing the result of the
operations of the past financial year, as well as the report
of the actuary, exhibiting the aggregate results of the five
years up to the Ist of December last.

The SECRETARY here read the audit3d balance-
sheets, which was followed by

" THE ACTUARY'S REPORT.
" London, May 4, 1860.
"Gentlemen,--The first quinquennial periol of the In-
ternational Life Assurance Society having terminated on
the Ist of December, 1859, I have now to lay before you the
results of my investigation of the affairs of the society up
to that date.

" During the five years 2,862 policies have been issued,
assuring the sum of £1,198,087, and the premiums upon the
same amount to 137,061 Os.sd. per annum. The claims paid
during the five years amount to £158,550 135., and the
claims falling in during the same period amount to
£161,411, being £1,515 less than the average expectation.
" The income of the society from premiums on 5,083
policies is now £71,040 10s. 9d. per annum, exclusive of
extra premiums and income from other sources, and the
corresponding amount of assurances, is £2,228,424.

The position of the affairs of the society, calculated up to
the Ist Dec., 1859, is as follows :

Present value of income receivable by the
society under life assurance contracts,
£68,450 15s. 10d. per annum £905,422 12 0
Present value of income from deferred and
survivorship annuities, £612 Bs. 8d per
annum
Present value of income from endowments,
£l9 68. Bd. per annum
Amount of investments, as per auditors'

2,490 5 10

111 7 9

report .. 213,844 310

£1,121,868 9 5

Present value of liabilities
on life assurances, with
additions, £2,164,262 £922,207 8 7
Present value of liabilities
on deferred and survivor-
ship annuit es, £2,729 19s
8d per annum 18,699 16 0
Present value of sums as-
sured under endowments,
£746 Is. Od
Present value of imme-
diate annuities, £5,735
10e. 10d. per annum
Paid-up capital
Arrears of bonus on shrs 309 6 9

676 8 5

£1,060,85516 4

Balance in favour of the society £61,012 13 1
By reserving from this balance the sum of £41,356 18s. Ild.,
the remainder, after first providing the 5 per cent.
thereof, and setting apart 20 per cent. towards the
Guarantee Fund according to the Deed of Settlement, will
enable you to declare to Non-withdrawal Policies, on the
profit scale, a cash bonus varying from 10 to 25 per cent.
in reduction of the next Annual Premium, and to all Poli-
cies effected on the Profit Scale a Iteveisionary Bonus,
averaging 371 per cent. on
.the Annual Premium, and to
the Proprietors a Bonus of 5 per cent., or 1 per cent. per
annum for the next 5 years, in addition to the regular in-
terest of 5 per cent., which would be the preferable mode.
—I am, gentlemen, your very obedient servant,
W. S. B. WooLnovsE, Consulting Actuary.
To the Directors of the

International Life Assurance Society.
"The policies issued within the year amount in number
to 424, covering assurances to the extent of £176,182, and
yielding £5,483 in annual premiums, of which the propor-
tion actually received was £4,340 18s.; the apparent dis-
crepancy arising from some of the premiums being payable
by half-yearly, or quarterly, instalments, all of which had
not been paid at the termination of the financial year.
" The sum of £2,898 2s. 4d. was received for eleven imme-
diate annuities.

"The proposals declined, or not carried out, were 31,
amounting to £10,450.
"In addition to the above, £64,278 198. was received for
renewal 'lnd extra premiums, £8,063 12s. 3d. for interest
on investments, and £9l 13s. 6d. on exchange, &c. ; thus
bringing up the inc me for the year to £79,673 5s 7d.
"The claims paid on GO lives amount to £24,758 12s. Bd. ;
and there has been further disbursed in the purchase of
policies £7,137 19s. 2d., by which, and the lapsed policies,
liabilities are extinguished to the extent of £136,777.
" On the other hand, five annuitants have died, by which
further liabilities have been extinguished, amounting to
£759 16s. 2d. per annum, the present value of which is
estimated at £6,508; and the investments of the society
have been raised from £192,397 13s. 10d., at which they
stood at the date of the last report, to £213,844 3s. 10d. on
the 30th November last.

" The directors have gradually been bringing into opera-
tion the arrangement referred to at the annual meeting in
1858, for ultimately doing away with all salaries to our
general agents, and making their remuneration depend
entirely upon commissions. This will account for the

increase in the item commissions' in this year's
' balance sheet. On the other hand, a corresponding dimi-
nution is observable in the amount of branch charges,' and
the latter item will be still further reduced when this mode
of payment can be fully carried into effect.
"It would be in the recollection of the proprietors pre-
sent at the last annual meeting, that the directors then
stated that proceedings in Chancery had just been com-
menced against them by Mr. Charles Drake, in the names
of himself, his mother, and one other shareholder in the
society. This suit, the directors hoped, would have been
brought to a conclusion before the present time ; but they
regret to say that, notwithstanding the most distinct denial
on oath having been put in by them six months ago, to the
scandalous charges made against them, the plaintiffs have
not ventured to take i -sue on that denial, but have, within
the last few weeks, availed themselves of the practice of the
Court to amend their bill, and thus to oblige the directors
to repeat their denial of these reiterated allegations ; but as
they are thus called upon to sot forth almost all the society's
transactions since its first establishment, very great expen-
diture of time and labour is necessarily involved in so doing.
" It is satisfactory, however, to be able to state that when-
ever Mr. Drake and his colleagues have ventured to bring
their case before the court, they have signally failed, espe-
cially in the attempt made in January last, to stop the whole
of the society's business by injunction, when the Vice-
Chancellor refused the application with costs. The direc-
tors are thoroughly convinced that this litigation is being
carried on for the sole purpose of inducing a compromise
on terms advantageous to these parties, and without any
expectation of establishing a case for judicial interference.
The whole course pursued by Mr. Drake shows this to be
so, and it is all the more evident by his having within the
last few days, without waiting for the expiration of the
time allowed by the practice of the court for answer-
ing his bill, taken the unworthy course of
circulating among the proprietors one-sided and false
statements of the society's accounts and position. This
proceeding, like all his former acts, is so evidently hostile
to the interests of the society, and so inconsistent with any
real intention of abiding by the decision of the Court, that
the directors feel confident that their brother t-hareholders
will assist them in defeating such unjustifiable conduct,,
and they again invite any proprietor who will take the
trouble to do so, to satisfy themselves by inspection of the
acocunts, of the groundless and vexatious character of the
attacks.

" During the past year the society has experienced con-
siderable opposition in America, in most of the States of
which country, new laws, affecting foreign insurance com-
panies transacting business there, have been enacted. In
one of tbo States, that of Massachusetts, a report of the
position of this society was promulgated, founded upon data
so manifestly insufficient, and purporting to arrive at results
so erroneous and unfair, that the directors, immediately
upon becoming aware of this attempt to injure the position
and credit of the society, obtained from their most able
actuary, Mr. Woolhouse, and also from another very
eminent actuary, Mr. Neison, independent valuations of the
society's assets and liabilities ; and the result of these gen-
tlemen's investigations has been to show, beyond all doubt,