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

THOUGHTS AND DETAILS ON LIFE IN-
SURANCE OFICES. A. Beaumont.
This little publication, which is addressed in the shape
of a letter to the Shareholders and Insured in the
Provident Life-office, Regent-street, contains a great
deal of useful information on subjects which interest a
large portion of the community, and many hundreds
will regret that it was not published some five years ago.
Had the faithful warning which it conveys been com-
municated in time, t_he West-Middlesex Insurance Com-
pany, and another Company little less flagitious, though
, less injurious, would not have thrown so many families
into distress and hopeless ruin. One observation in the
which tests otfhe soimdn
essof tl
pamphlet ought to make a deep impression on perzons
who wish to guart,lt against
period
ahistthe insohency Assurance-
offices,
ie na
melythat
principles upon which an Insurance-office is con-
dncted, is from twenty-five to thirty years after its es-
, tablishment. No office, the author considers safe, unless
it has been subjected to this term of probation, and he
thus makes out his argument :
There is no Life Insurance Company, on whatever principles It
may be constituted, that may not buoy itself up with every external
show of 1)108pr/city for at least the first twenty years. if by repre-
, sentatiOnsilmwever delusive, it can succeed in getting business, it
may during that period' Alare handsome bonuses, and even pay
them, and thus strengthen its apparent claim to public favour. The
policies of the few that may annually drop off, may be punctually
paid to the surviving claimants out of the accumulated and Meow.
ing funds. The very claims thus arising, enable them to sustain
and strengthen their reputation, as the prompt discharge of them
is thus turned to good account. But, in the progress of time,
a period arrives which wholly alters this state of affairs. The
lapse of between twenty and thirty years has brought those
early insured, then in middle age, to a somewhat advanced
period of life. The candles have been all burning together,
and they consequently go out at no distant intervals, The
deaths begin to multiphy fast, and the claims to press rapidly on
each other. It is now that the rough current sets in, and it is this
crisis which tries the solidity of the concern. If the system is one
of collusion, its whole machinery will be brought to a
.stop ; the
Company will now be broken up, and the proprietors will decamp
with the funds, setting the claimants and the law at defiance. If,
on the contrary, an establishment at the end of this period of pro.
bation remains still solvent and trustworthy, discharging all its
claims with the same exactness and promptitude as at first, it has
given the best grounds for presuming favourably both as to the in-
tegrity of its dealings, and the stability of its funds. The evi-
dence is not in all cases conclusive; but better ground of reliance
can hardly be desired, and the most cautious may prudently act
upon it as the best that can be obtained. It has the great advan.
tage, too, of being easily procured, nothing more being necessary
than to refer to the date of the establishment of the °lice."
This statement is fully borne out by the history of the
Provident Life Office. During the first seven years, says
Mr. Beaumont, the gain was very considerable ; the
receipts exceeded the claims by 70 per cent., but towards
the end of twenty-eight years the claims multiplied so
rapidly as to leave but few lives on the list of those early
insured. " This effectually tried our strength." This
account is so consistent with truth and experience, that
we should look upon every person as mad who insured
in a new office (unless under good guarantees) if
it were not a well-knoen fact, that one half of man-
kind daily commit acts which the other half re-
gard as decided proofs of insanity. The publi-
cation then refers to the different companies es-
tablished for life insurance, and of course the author
prefers his own, but of that the reader can judge for
himself. "My only object," he says in conclusion, "him
been to prevent, or rather to assist in preventing, the►
recurrence of irreparable misfortunes, by furnishing such
materials for consideration as may put the inexperienced
on their guard, and I would fain hope that they may
not be wholly unprofitable. Those only who are prac-
tically acquainted with the subject have the means of
doing this. In my present attempt to effect it, I have
only carried out—l feel how imperfectly—the intention
of our deceased founder, to whose office I succeed, and
whose loss, unaided by his guidance as I now am, Khave
daily occasion to deplore."