The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-03 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 29th ult. announce
that two Neapolitan vessels of war, having on
board Poerio and the other political exiles, arrived
on the previous day in the roadstead of Cadiz, and
l'it is said," adds the semi-official Correspondancia
Autografa, " that, by order of the Queen, all
assistance required by the sad situation of the exiles
has been accorded to them." The editor of the
Discussion, the democratic journal, had been
elected at Murviedo by a majority of 10. The
responsible editor of the same journal has been
condemned to pay a fine of 8,000 reals for the pub-
lication of an article on the Emperor of the French.
Some changes had taken place among the higher
officers of the royal household, but it was stated
that they were not caused by political considera-
tions. The Correspondancia Autografa publishes
a letter from Cochin China, which asserts that the
Emperor of that country was so alarmed at the
comet that he had fastened himself in a tower with
poison and a cord, in order to put an end to his
existence in the event of its causing any disaster

PROVIDENT CLERKS' MUTUAL LOS

ASSURANCE ASSOCIATION.

The eighteenth annual general meeting of the
members of this flourishing association was held las!,
evening at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-strec',,
for the purpose of receiving the annual report of triv
directors, and for the election of the new director 9
and auditors, in accordance with the rules of the s°'
ciety. There was a very full attendance.
-a 0.
At five o'clock the chair was taken by -L..
Jones, Esq., chairman of the board of directors. do
The CHAIRMAN said the first thing he had te,"
was to call upon the secretary to read the advert'se,
meat convening the meeting.
tbe
The SECRETARY (Mr. Linford) having. read
notice calling the meeting, submitted the director'
annual report, as follows:
of
"In presenting their 18th annual report of the afia
the association, the board are much gratified in being 3. 0
to state that, notwithstanding the competition which el'
in life assurance business, the progress of the past year • e
been highly satisfactory. The proposals received darittrd
the year 1858 were 576 in number, for a total sunifi,
£124,775 ; of which 478, for L 104,575, were completed; ,d
for £6,500, were declined ; and 8, for £13,700, were defe„,r`i;
or withdrawn, and are now awaiting completion. ,-1,0
amount of new annual income arising from comp is
policies is £2,899 ss. 9d. The total income of the raf.o,,-
£30,878 4s. 3d., and the balance in favour of the associal'A
is £15,318 Os. 6d. After paying upwards of £4,400 in can.
bonuses, and pros iding for all known claims, the aco
lated fund is raised to £108,799 10s. 3d. It is satisfactog
to observe that the claims by death continue modeir
55 policies, amounting, with bonuses, to £8,978 190. 17;'s
have fallen in during the past year; while the 5,81.10' 'it.
existing-during that period have reached nearly one InerA.
lion—the policies in force on the 31st December, 1_,,7
being 5,082, for a gross sum of £960,775. At the ti
quennial investigation into the business of the assoeiafe
to the 31st December, 1857, the report of the consul-1;j
actuary, Mr. Ratray, showed that a surplus of £10,895 tas
been created by the five years ended as above, and tkaa ect
addition of 10 per cent. per annum could with
safety be made to the policies entitled to ' participa
The profit realised would have admitted of a larger acit.
but the board were of opinion that it was desirable to reset is
yedauthdeitnle..licooes.
a portion of the amount. In addition to the above, am
provision has been made for all participating policies el no
since
been
placed Dec.. 31b,efloti.theThtreubsathlaezwe-hshoeeextp,
expressed
much gratified at the continued prosperity. of the associaltio
In conformity with Rule 10, the following directors rev.
by rotation, but, being eligible, offer themselves fT,g,
election, viz., Mr. Edward Coleman, Mr. Sancton .alp
and.Mr..Henry Rogers. The following gentlemen, 12,
qualified, have been prop.osed, in accordance with 1111'110a
as auditors for the ensuing year, viz., Mr. James 111,c rieg
Lloyd, Mr. Francis Frederick Toole, and Mr. Ch 10•
Woolley. While congratulating the-members on the teir
gress that has been made, the board beg to renew re,
urgent request that every member will, in his owal fur.
endeavour to the extent of his power to promote sw'
ther the prosperity of this association by making knowl:,
advantages it offers as a well-established and mutual
assurance office to assurers of every class of society.' at
The CHAIRMAN said he need scarcely say berg
he felt very great pleasure in meeting the man ry
after the lapse of 12 months, and after the c,e to
favourable report which had just been detaileLito
them. There were, however, a few points ill, jag
balance sheet which he would notice, but in u°,iiio
so he should detain them only a few minutes. ear
first point was that the business of the past
re,
was very nearly equal to that of the one be ii°ey
notwithstanding that in that year t the
. had a large accumulation of business from tiler
Electric Telegraph Company. (Hear,hear.) An° lye
point was the number of new policies issued. 1114
year 1858 the average amount of each new P°,,er
was £230, while in former years they had ntebat
exceeded £l9O ; and that simple fact showea,„oo
their business was improving. Not only icit'ho
but others were daily joining the society, al-Julio-.
circumstance could but give an increased stabl
He felt confident that the members gcneraill'ioll
, looking at the balance-sheet, would be of opirlep
that the society had made the most of their Inlacl
, while, on the other side, although the claims .009
been large, they had not exceeded the expectatile,
of the directors. With respect to the expenditucej
I it would be seen that the directors had re(1113ot,
. that item by £650 per annum. (Cheers.) 01
. although that had been done, he wished to gitto
members against the supposition that the direc.o
could, as a matter of course, reduce every Ito
which to some seemed unnecessary. If it too
considered prudent by the board to risk a cereoo,
) sum of money with a view to increase its buss-"
. it was not fair uniformly to censure the boat
• loss occurred, for the members might 90
' perfectly satisfied that nothing would be undert7)o
• without a fair prospect of success. To say th7)oo,
was satisfied with the result of the past year's
ness would be to say that which he did not thhe
even if the business had increased twofold re"
should not be satisfied, so he trusted that all re'
sent would still endeavour to make it go oninc7o-01
ing. The position the society had new attalso
was very high in the assurance world. - Poor
They had issued altogether since the conne, of
anent of, the society, policies to the amount
£1,250,000. (Hear, hear.) The amount n?,:sr,c; of
fcrce was £960,000, and they had a ca r"• 00
£lOB,OOO. (Hear, hear, and, cheers.) ,heit
could confidently appeal to Mr. Ratray, to
actuary, whether they were not in a pesit'°;oo.
meet all their claims, which circumstance int,,,a
testably proved the society to be in a sound t
healthy position. Before he resumed his seutsi
could not help alluding to a pamphlet that 7,0
been put into his hands, which contained stateole It
' that were perfectly chimerical. (Hear, hear•Lio
was all very well for persons to write and 1;1.
• such statements, but he could not look upon
such as friends of the institution. (Hear, 0,.e-the
If the author of that pamphlet had attended sa.ld
office, he would have seen the secretary, Who W°fla
have received him with courtesy, and would Ilii9et
given him all the necessary information t° jp
him right on the points he had treated of. eld
the pamphlet another society had been 'die
up as a model for other societies to imitate ;
thought an unfair comparison had been made
tween the Provident Clerks' Association id
the one referred to, for though both tu,,foe
associations had been established in the sad
year, the other had since accumulated of
£22,000, whilst theirs had an invested flin„rbe
£lOB,OOO. The gentleman who had written of
pamphlet had declared himself to have been (*fife
the first founders of the Provident Clerks' '0
• Assurance Association, but that was not sol.ferreol
gentleman had joined it 12 years after. .1-t°
founders of the institution had started with oej
01%
higher and pureemotives than their own pers°oot
gain, and gave their own guarantee to the ara.., °„re.
• of £5,000 against the risk of its being a fa"lod
• (Hear, hear, and cheers.) He was, however,
• to say that that gentleman had increased his 11,
last year, which showed that, however murk
night write against the institution, he had at
'ate very great confidence in the manner in W."-0(1
its business was transacted. (Hear, hear, ileo
laughter.) Then the subject of rent had life ter
taken up by other parties, but he trusted that a el
the manner in which the subject had been dise°lo
at former meetings the subject would' be alloWe ato
rest, because further discussion would tend to ere I.)
false impressions on the public mind. (Heardieabe
He hoped that he had said nothing that wouldo
displeasing to any individual present, and he
conclude, by moving the following resolution
a That the report and balance-sheet now read 1119 r
ceived and adopted, and that the same be printed an;
culated at the discretion of the Board." (Loud cheer''..4
Mr. BELL said it would afford him much pleas'
to second the resolution. rg
Mr. KINTREA complained that the direc"l.o
ought to have done more work, and got them IP-r,
than £2,500 worth of new business in the Y,etoal
especially as they were paid £BOO, or about
the income of the company for their services. 1.0,
Mr. WARWICK warmly defended the direct° 0,
and showed that, as .compared with other offlel'ho
very surprising progress had been made by
Provident Clerks.' Had that been a meeting at
persons ignorant of figures such a complaint as that
of the last gentleman might have passed ; but s"0„.
was. to be said to a gentlemen who told an rise
bly of London clerks that £BOO was the half e.
£2,500 ? (Laughter and cheers.) It was not 01;lo
third. But further, that £2,500 was simply
new income. The gross income was £30,878, 0,
the company was in a highly prosperous condition
They were better off by £10,635 than they ,ere
twelve months ago; and he firmly believed tP-ff.
would soon become one Of the most successful ios'
tutions of the kind in England.
Mr. BELL said he had often referred to this 6
,4, i/bitte
ject before, but he could not help repeating 'to
r
exerting
aignnea
aacil
rtnr
oNhs- eihetnri
institution
auasitnet.
Lovo
be
nsoeeBggml:aus:ruidgiaceehi
t). remuneration
oetnnai
oewt
uooasdut amount of
nod fioi
duties,re-
saci
capital.
enoi
txiOd-
as of pel
r
thought it was equally the duty of every indiviv-
member to do his best for the general prosperiti:he
Mr. J. R. LLOYD thought the contents of
pamphlet should be discussed then.
,Mr. KINTREA denied having anything to
a°
with the pamphlet.
Mr. TOOLE hoped if the gentleman who wretehiot
was present, he would come forward and state vir'."o
he was, and what he had to complain of. (Ole-
was no response to this suggestion. ) . ro
Mr. LLOYD said with regard to the direct° 0
being overpaid, that underpaid services were tv
dearest things that people could have. Ch°,i'j7
labour was now all but discarded. It had Id
been considered as worth next to nothing.
the railway contractor, who took his own ~navy'Ac
into the provinces, and paid them a', guinea a sfeio
and upwards, when plenty of men would offer, a
work for him at ls. a day. Whoever ,fouous
lawyer's opinion worth a straw, when it 1"
given without a fee ? (Laughter.) After Ors:
menting at seine' length on Mr. Kintrea's retnal.,)(l
Mr. Lloyd hoped that the Benevolent Fund w° 0f
not longer be charged with the heavy paymeni'