The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-08 00:00:00

GRESHAM LIFE ASSUBANCE SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MELTING-(THIS DAY).

The ordinary annual meeting of the Gresham Life As-
surance Society was held this afternoon at the head office,
37, Old Jewry, Cheapside. W. Tabor, Esq., chairman of
the board of directors, presided.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said the
directors were there for their 181 year, to render an ac-
count of the business of the past year, and he would there-
fore call upon their secretary to read the annual report.
Mr. CURTIS (the actuary and secretary) then read the
report which was as follows :

The directors have to report the progress of the society
during. the 12 months ending on the 31st July, 1866.
5,020 proposals were submitted during the year, for the
assurance of £1,819,428 15s. 2d. Of those the directors
selected for acceptance 4,550, and policies for the amount of
£1,656,133 lss. 7d. were issued.

The new premiums received within the year amounted
to £44,445 12s. Od.
_

The'income of the society was increased to £257,47945.10d.,
of which amount £231,2-11 4s. was derived from premium;
and £26,238 Os. 10d. from interest on investments.
The sum of £70,628 3s. 11d. was paid during the year for
assurance and endowment claims ; afttg satisfaction of
which, and of all other charges, a surplus of £117,688 ss.
6d. has been added to the invested funds.
The directors retiring on the present occasion are Edward
Solly, F.R.S., William Henry Thornthwaite, and Jas. Lyne
Hancock, Esqs., who, being eligible, are recommended by
the board for re-election.

The auditors, G. 11. Ladbury, William Webb Venn, and
William Whitelock, Esqs., retire, and again offer them-
selves for re-election. _

---The directors cpnsider that it will be desirable in future
to close the accounts on the 30th June of each year instead
of the 31st July as heretofore, and also to value the assets
and liabilities and distribute surplus fund at intervals of
three instead of five years. They propose that the first of
the triennial investigations shall take place in 1867 ; and
resolutions necessary for these objects will bo submitted to
the shareholders at a special meeting.

The CHAIRMAN said the duty now devolved upon him
to move that the report and balance-sheet which had been
presented to the meeting be accepted and adopted. lie
need hardly, he thought, do more than simply move the
formal resolution, because all had gone on prosperously
during the last year. (Hear, hear.) Their business had
increased, and they had added, according to the re-
port, £117,000 to the reserve fund, but he thought that
if the £15,000 which had been paid as bonus, and
which was quite of an exceptional nature, were added, it
would make that addition nearer £140,000. (Hear, hear.)
They had also increased their rate of interest rather more
than last year, the average now being 4i per cent. on the
funds invested; and when they came to compare the re-
sult of their yearly labours with that of other offices, he
thought they would be of the same opinion as the direc-
tors, namely, that they had done extremely well during
the past year. (Hear, hear.) With these few observations
he would conclude by formally moving the reception and
adoption of the report.

Mr. SMEE said he had very great pleasure in seconding
the resolution for the reception of the report, because by it
it would bo seen that the society was carrying on its opera-
tions in a manner in which they all desired. In the first
place, it showed its stability by the amount of its invested
assets, which at the end of the year amounted to no less
a sum than £900,000, but which at the present time
amounted to nearer £1,000,000. (Cheers.) A company
with such a ;fund had indeed a substantial basis for the
carrying out all its engagements. Next, they had an annual
income of no less than £257,479, which was of itself a guar-
antee for the prosperity of the society. The amount assured
in the society was no less than £7,000,000, and the
average of each policy was £4OO. (Hear, hear.) If
they were curious in such matters they would find
on examination that the society had grown progressively
and satisfactorily. (Hear, hear.) In the first six years
the number of policies accepted was 500 ; in the second six
years it was 1,300 ; in the third six years it was 3,430; and
in the fourth six years, that was the present time, their
annual issue of policies was 4,550. (Hear, hear.) In order
to strengthen the foundation, and to enlarge and increase
their business, it was absolutely necessary that there
should be an infusion of now blood, and that this had
been done the amount of new policies amply testified.
(Hear, hear.) There was another matter that was highly
satisfactory, and that was, that their claims for the past
year had only amounted to £70,000, which was less by
£lO,OOO than the previous year, and much less than they
had a right to expect, considering the manner in
which chalera had been raging. (Hear, hoar.) All
their lives were European lives (hear, hear)—
they were in England, a few in Scotland, and
still fewer in Ireland, and none, ho confidently asserted,
had a better chance of longevity. (Hear, hear.) When
he looked at the amount of business that had been com-
pleted during the past year, it would be idle to suppose
that a board of directors had done or could do it, and if he
were to make such an assertion he saw those around him
who could at once contradict the assertion. (Hear, hear.)
They must look to their staff of agents and the manner in
which they worked for the prosperity of their society, and
that they had worked most successfully during the past
year the reportathen before them amply testified. If the
agents had not had a thorough sound business to recom-
mendthey could not have accomplished so much—(cheers)
—but they had a business that was sound and
good in every particular, and thus the results that
gave them so much pleasure had been attained. (Hear,
hear.) As a specimen of the value of their policies, he
might menti9n the fact, that to a policy of 17 years for
£l,OOO they had added to it no less a sum than £2OO ;to
another of 12 years for £l,OOO they had added
£l3l ss. ;, and to another of seven years for a
like amount, £53 17s. had been added. That showed
how they met their engagements. (Cheers.) The greatest
success had attended their society since its foundation,
and he was sure he only reiterated the desire of all pre-
sent when he wished that that prosperity would for years
continue unabated and undiminished. He had the
greatest pleasure iu seconding the resolution moved by
the Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution for the reception
of the report, when it was carried unanimously.
The retiring directors, Edward Solly, F.R.S., William
Henry Thornthwaite, and James Lyne Hancock, Esqs.,
were re-elected, as also were the retiring auditors, G. H.
Ladbury, William Webb Venn, and William Whitelock,
Esqs.
The CHAIRMAN said that concluded the business of the
day, and ho had to thank those gentlemen who had hon-
oured them with their attendance.

Mr. WALFORD said before they separated ho thought it
but due that thanks should be voted to the chairman and
directors. This being the first time he had attended their
meetings, he felt a diffidence in moving such a resolution ;
but he could not allow the meeting to break up without
awarding thanks to those who had worked so assiduously
for them. (Hear, hear.) He had much to do in the
various capitals of Europe, and in most of them he had
to inform the meeting their society was looked upon
as a little Bank of England, and that being the case he
had determined to take up some shares in it. He had got
some, but he intended to increase his stake in the com-
pany, and thus show his appreciation of it. There was
plenty of business abroad for a good institution, and the
Gresham he considered a first-class and enduring one.
(Hear, hear.) He was in the way of introducing
a business that would produce £200,000 per annum, and
he should do all he possibly could to secure it. Mr. Smee
was also shaping hi's course in the same direction, and ho
felt almost certain that success would attend their efforts.
His groat desire was that the society should become larger,
and in order that it might do so he would give it all the
assistance in his power. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. C. TYLER seconded the motion with the greatest
pleasure.

Mr. WALFORD then put the resolution to the meeting,
when it was carried unanimously.

The CHAIRMAN, on the part of his colleagues, acknow-
ledged the compliment. The greatest amount of their suc-
cess, however, belonged to their efficient staff and agents,
and to them the thanks were due, and it was through them
that the great bulk of the business must come.
A vote of thanks was then unanimously awarded to Mr.
Curtis (the secretary), the staff, and the agents.
Mr. CURTIS returned thanks. He said the staff worked
with a will and the greatest unanimity; and as for the
agents, nothing he could say could equal their deserts.
They were gentlemen holding high positions in the social
scale, and the great amount of business secured could not
have been accomplished without the greatest earnestness.
On the part, therefore, of those gentlemen, he begged to
thank the meeting for the recognition of their services.
The proceedings then terminated.

DR. LANKESTER ON THE MIDDLESEX MAGIS-
TRATES.—Last night, Dr. Edwin Lankester, the
coroner for Central Middlesex, resumed the inquiry into the
death of John. Noyce, at the Middlesex Hospital. The
deceased, who was employed at the Berner-street Dispen-
sary, died suddenly, having exhibited previous to death all
e
.. symptoms of having taken poison. The inquiry was
adpurned for the purpose of the intestines of the deceased
being analysed. Dr. Lankester now said that he had
written to Mr. Huish respecting the analysis, and he had
replied, stating that his fee would be 10 guineas, but he
(Dr. Lankester), through the meanness of the Middlesex
magistrates—the magistrates of the richest county in the
kingdom—was unable to give this amount. Ho was there-
fore obliged to send to another gentleman, Mr. Rodgers,
the professor of Toxicology at the London University
Hospital, who had consented to perform the analysis, and
whom the magistrates might thank. To this gentleman
he was only able to give the ordinary post-mortem fee of
two guinea; and for an analysis of the nature required he
did not consider the foe Mr. Huish demanded too much. Of
course professional gentlemen would not come forward un-
less properly remunerated for the case, and he was obliged
to depend on professional friends to undertake this work,
He might add to these remarks the fact that if he ordered
the exhumation of a body, ho had to pay the expense out
of his own pocket. He trusted that these remarks, through
the medium of the press, would come to the knowledge of
the public generally. He should, individually, at all times
for tho sake of justice being done, wish to remunerate
professional men adequately for their skill and services.