The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-14 00:00:00

PROVID-ENT LIFE OFFICE.

. A General Meeting of the Directors and Proprietors of the
Provident Life Office was held on Friday at the Offices of the
Company, Regent-street, for 'the purpose of receiving a state-
ment of the accounts, and of decliring a dividend.
Sir Josue ()seems, Bart., was called to the Chair.
The SXCKETA RY then read a statement of the accounts,
from which it appeared.that the balance from the last states
ment, the interest upon stock and mortgages, &c., amounted
in the whole to 1,130,920/. Ils. 2d. As soon as the various
items of the account had been gone through,
JOHN AUGUSTUS BF.AUMONT, Esq., the Blanaging Dire..
tor, rose and said—Having so recently laid before you the
statements of our accounts upon the last septennial division, it
may appear to he unnecessary that I should trouble you with
many remarks upon the present occasion. But I am gratified
to be able to state that, although only six months have elapsed
since our last meeting, the tact of our having on that occasion,
not only continued to declare a bonus to the insured, but to,
preserve the same progressive increase in its amount, as on
the four, previous divisions, has made its due impression on
the public, and our business has proportionally increased. The
extent to which life assurance business is now entered into by
the public, and the immense interests which arc at stake
in the profession, render it incumbent upon an office which like
this carries on its operations solely for the benefit of its policy-
holders, not only to declare in general terms the state of its
accounts, but to render that statement, as far as can be, intelli-
gible to all parties interested in its welfare. This principle
.must be my excuse for endeavouring to show by a comparison
with other offices what we have effected. 'I hat comparison has
within the last few weeks been called for by the Secretary to the
Norwich Union, at the recent annual meeting of that Company.
It will be in the recollection of the present meeting that that
office in the year 1829, having a surplus profit of only 44,0001.
declared a bonus of 300,0001., and that upon the following sep-
tennial meeting in 1836, their surplus was, as might have been
expected, so trifling, that they were unable to declare any
bonus at all. An equally surprising fact was the admission
that 7,000/. per annum might be saved in the future manage-
ment of the office. 'The implied unnecessary expenditure to
so large au amount for a number of years upon a single
item of the account, naturally gave rise to serious alarm.
It now appears they are about to declare a bonus upon the
last five years' transactions, which has doubtless been arrived at
with a stricter regard to correctness than that of the year
1829. 1 will now state the effects of tl.,e comparison between
ourselves and that office. The amount of their fund in
hand, is barely equal to half of our similar fund, in pro-
portion to. our respective liabilities. This is the point
to be 'borne in mind, in estimating the prosperity of a life-
office.—(Hear, hear.) As to the gains of each office
no one has ever disputed the large amount realized by this
Norwich Union ; they have probably been of an amount cor-
responding to the vast business which was formerly secured
by the active exertions of the Managers, but the complaint
has been that those gains, arising from the extensive confi-
dence originally bestowed upon the office in question by the
public, have not realized that benefit to the policy-holders
which they were entitled to expect. With respect to
our divisions of profit among our policy-holders, we need
only refer to the fact of our having from the first esta-
blishment to the present time secured a bonus of no inconsi-
derable amount at each of the five septennial periods, while the
Norwich Union has made three only, (if we except one,
of which at the time of its being made they had barely a
seventh part of the amount in hand.) Our surplus profit was
on the first division, in 1813, 20,0001. At the second division,
in 1820, it was upwards of 90,0001. Upon the third division,
in 1127, it was 215,000/. Upon the fourth division, in 1834,
upwards of 300,000/., and at the recent division, being the
fifth, 415,6001. We have no means of showing the amounts
of the similar items in the Norwich, excepting fur the years
1829 and 1836. Their surplus profit at the first of these
periods was 44,000/. ; at the second, 15,0001., as was proved
upon a strict examination into the affairs of the office, instituted
by the policy-holders, the result of which was published
on the 6th November, 1839. 1 state these facts only
in answer to the questions contained in the speech of their
Secretary at their late general meeting, and 1 think it due
to the memory of our late Managing Director, the Founder of
this Office, that such a statement of facts should be made on the
present occasion. The comparison might be carried out to
other points, and an instructive lesson to the public derived
from the proceedingssasa:terlosaerrioffice
of the office in question as detailed in
their printed Report, and at their late General Meeting, but I
fear to trespass too far upon your attention. lam enabled to
state that bonuses declared by two other offices, viz., the Hope
and the Eagle, which offices are of similar date with ourselves,
and both of which failed to declare a bonus in the year 1833, are
six times less than those whichhave been declared by this office.
—( Hear.) These facts I submit warrant me in congratulating
be,
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Directors,cari
Iwiailvlehbee esnuhcmairtetfeudlltyhctohnesitmleereedti,nga.nd
Theuypretshoiueint(ion of ae. resolution
in the room
Tdh tore
et the
gentlemen Shareholders
were w
of three Directors, who went out by rotation,
H. B. Churchill, Esq , was elected Audit or in the room of
L. Rumsey, Esq.
Mr. Cue RCHILL, in returning thanks, said that the affairs
of that office were conducted in such a manner as to render the '
~ffice of auditor almost a sinecure. '1 here was one point to
which he, as a member of the legal profession, would allude, and
that was with regard to the law expenses of the office.
The amount for law expenses for the past year was per-
haps less than in any other insurance-office. It only amounted
to 731. This evidently showed that great care was taken to
avoid disputes by the parties connected with this establishment.
He most heartily thanked them fort he honour they had done him,
Aeodew Itraceew, Esq., proposed a vote of thanks to the
Managing Director, Mr: Beaumont, and at the same tin e
paused a warm eulogium upon the talents and integrity •01
.he late Managing Director, whose constant exertions were
directed to the welfare of all parties who had identified
themselves with the Office which he had conducted with so
much success.
Mr. ilea U MONT. in returning thanks, said he was extremely
erietil of the confidence placed in him, that he considered the
'Alice of Manager of a prosperous Life-office one of the highast
IlJnour, seeing that the interests of so large a portion of the
community are entrusted to his care, and that he should ever
ltd most deeply interested in the success of an establishment
which owed its origin and 'prosperity to the exertions and pru-
dent measures of his lamented father. He begged leave
to take that opportunity of expressing his thanks to the Di-
rectors, who had rendered great service to the Office by their
constant attention to its affairs.
The meeting then separated, after expressing their thanks to
the Chairman for his attention to the business of the day.

The General Steam Navigation Company's
Mail Packet, Columbine, Captain William Norwood, from
Rotterdam, arrived off the Custom-house, yesterday, uith tho
Ditch mail.