The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-03-15 00:00:00

STREET. LIVERPOOL.

The very flattering encomium passed upon this article since
its introduction in 1833, together with the very general and in-
creasing demand, have caused a variety of imitations to he
brought forward. To prevent disappointment, the Public will
please to ask for GERDES'S SALAD DRESSING, and ob-
serve that each label is signed JOHN GERDES, without which
none is genuine.
Sold Wholesale by the Proprietors, JOHN GERDES AND CO.,
9, Church-street; Messrs. Evatis, SON, & Co., Wholesale
Druggists, Fenwick-street ; CHARLES MAWHOOD, Patent Me-
dicine Warehouse, South John-street; and retail by most re-
spectable Druggists, Grocers, and Oilmen.
Export orders executed on advantageous terms.

YORK. AND NORTH OF ENGLAND ASSURANCE

COMPANY.

THE Directors of this Association having had their a
called to a Memorial, presented to the Council
rough of Liverpool, from certain Fire Insurance ,
whose names are thereunto appended, feel it due r
to make some observations upon a document,
dated, by implication, to throw discredit up
with which they are connected.
The Directors are quite content to leave o the inhabitants
of Liverpool to decide, without comment m them, epien the
justice of the charges brought by the Memorialists against the
civil authorities for having failed to adopt "such measures of
precaution for extinguishing fires, as were so long expected
from their •patriotisin and foresight"—" for not having yet
taken sufficient eleasures for a supply of water"—and for net
having obtained an Act " to "ice the power of recovery of the
expensei of extinguishing a fire against the proprietors of the
property on fire, and that immediately endangered." They also
leave it to the seine tribunal to decide upon the 'fidelity with
which the effects of the late awful conflagration at New York
have been so pathetically described by the Memorialists, and
the extraordinary accuracy of the statement, that the space de-
vastated by that appalling calamity was " quite as lame and
well built as the warehouse district of Liverpool."—The Mer-
chants of Liverpool will not fail to perceive that one great ob-
ject of these Memorialists is to prove that the premiums de-
mended by them are not greater than the risks fairly deserve;
and, consequently, that the call, which has been so long and
loudly made for reduction, is unreasonable, and cannot be com-
plied with.
The Directors of this Association feel, however, that these
Memorialists have a second object in view—not quite so ob-
vious, perhaps, but equally important to them if a conviction of
its truth could be forced upon the Mercantile Community of
Liverpool ;—they say, " The Premiums now charged are in-
adequate to meet an extensive conflagration in the warehouse
district." The cautious mode of expression in this paragraph
is worthy of notice. They do not say " inadequate to meet the
losses of past years," nor " the probable losses of those to
come, on the average," but "an extensive conflagration."
This may mean the destruction of one-third, one-half, or the
whole of the warehouses in Liverpool, with their contents,
amounting to a sum which twice the present premiums would not
make good in fifty years. The inference which, doubtless, it is
hoped the public will draw is this, that if the premiums charged
by the Memorialists are inadequate, an office-doing eusiness at
lower rates must be doing so to a certain loss, and therefore
must be unsafe, and unfit to be trusted. To repel this unjust
and unworthy insinuation, the Directors submit the following
brief state cent to the Merchants of Liverpool.
The Memorial in question is signed on behalf of sixteen In-
surance Companies, of whom fourteen are London and two
country offices. Of the fourteen London offices, two, with
singular modesty, have signed it who have no agent in Liver-
pool ; of the remaining twelve, only four had agents in Liver-
pool prior to 1803. There are now thirty-five agents in Liver-
pool, representing twenty-two offices, of whom eighteen have
been established in or since the year 1803—most of them at a
much more recent period—and they are now publicly chal-
lenged to disprove, by a candid statement of their receipts from,
and payments to Liverpool, since 180.3 to the latest quarter-
day, the assertion which is hereby made, that three-fourths of
the premiums now demanded by the London offices, if paid
during the whole of that period, would have been sufficient to
meet every claim, and to leave a handsome profit to the offices.
The Directors hope, that, upon this subject, the public will
bear in mind the fact, that of those offices who are parties to the
Memorial, several have, within the last two sears, advertised
returns of part of their prgfits to parties assured for five years,
the average premium for that period being upwards of '2O per
cent. less than that which they now declare to be inadequate !
It may also be desirable to refer to the Circular issued by the
London offices in February, 1833, the principal parties to
which were the present Memorialists. That circular announced
the combination of those from whom it emanated to raise the
Premiums from 7s. to 12s. per cent. on Floating Risks; but it
also stated that, so soon as the town shall be more amply sup_
plied with water, and an efficient Fire Police Establishment
proyhled at the public expense, the rates then determined on
should he revised. 'it is believed that these points have been
fully attended to--it is certain that less fires in proportion have-
occurred eirtee-firerdate-of the circular—yet these high rates are
persisted in, while the only reason (according to that circular)
for their adoption has ceased. It would seem, therefore, that
the parties are either not aware of the present state of Liverpool,
or that they have forgotten that which they mote in 1833 ;—it
may have been that either this circular or the memorial was
hastily drawn up.
That the losses by fire in Liverpool will, in future, be greatly
under the average of the last thirty years, no one can doubt, who
bears in tnind the powers now possesed and acted upon by the
Council, of making Bye-Laws for the prevention of fires in
warehouses, and for the punishment of offenders, and who is ac-
quainted with the organization and high state of efficiency of
the Fire Police Establishment, of which such honourable men-
tion is made hy the Watch Committee of the Council, in their
report dated 3d February, 18.36. Looking at these circumstances,
the Directors feel perfect confidence that the rates charged by
them which are on the average about 2'2 per cent. below the
London rates, are fully adequate to meet the probable losses,
and leave a fair profit to the Company--without which they have
nn desire to do business—having none of that patriotism or
phodauthrophy which it would seem, induces the signers of the
udott Meinurial to continue agencies in a place like Liverpool,
where, instead of realising profits, they are yearly diminishing
their Capitals f,
of the Cormliu'aiitr the sole • "advantage of the Mercantile portion
The Directors yin
that the You( conclusion, beg leave respectively to state
come before the N OF ENGLANDASSUKANCE UOMPANY
either oni' the ti('
without any inflated pretensions to a pre-
ferenceof high sounding names of an enormous nominal Capital, or
associated
as their ( generally irresponsible )Patrons
—they profess to he
themselves,
for the purpose of doing a busi-
ness profitable to the
public—their Proprietary as; as well as advantageous to the
numerousa and respectable—their
paid up and available means are
case of nereed
contingency—and in
proolptlyeyanCli.ll
ual to meet any probable
and as willing to discharge, be found as able
upon them, as any office inr„n every claim
thel lirilates Of Pree
miums are moderate—their Patrons are Public—acrd to a
continuance of that patronage,.foewhich they are very grateful,
they look alone for success,
By order of the Board of Directors,
EDMOND- BARJAW, Actuary and Secretary
MATTHEW NVOTHERSPOON, ‘,l4.e.nt fur Liverpool,
7, jndia-buildings.
York, 22d February, 1836.

;tention
the Bo-

,ompanies,
(n themselves

hich is calcu-
In the Company

[ADVERTISEMENT.]
FIRE INSURANCE.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL SfAND4RD.

take leave to submit, through the odium of your
paper, to the consideration of those whom e disposed to spe-
culate in new tire insurance schemes the s joined copy of an
advertisement which appeared a few years ack in another Li-
verpool newspaper :

"LIVERPOOL FIRE & LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

TRUSTEES. •
John Gladstone, Esq., M.P.
Thomas Fletcher, Esq.
John Hunter, Esq.
DIRECTORS.
Sir John Tobin, Knight, Chairman.
Ale Sander Macgregor, Esq., Deputy-Chairman.
Robert Benson, I Samul_tiope.

. .
William Cower, I Joseph Hornby,
James Cropper, j Charles Horsfall,
Wm. Dixon, (Water-street,) George lrlam,
Hardman Earle, I Joseph Langton,
Lister Ellis, William Myers,
George Grant, Robert Preston,
I Henry Holmes,jun. Win. Rathbone, Esqrs.

AUDITORS.
Thomas Langton, Esq. I Adam Hodgson, Esq.
Bankers.—Messrs. Arthur Heywood, Sons; and Co.
Actuary and Secrets ry.—Mr. Wm. Lawson.
-Solicitor.—Mr. G. A. Pritt.
Physician.—Joseph Pilkington Brandreth, M.D.
Surgeon.—Mr. Robert Bickersteth."
Here I would ask all those who may peruse this extract what
became of this Liverpool Fire and Life Insurance Company,
which embodied so large a portion of wealth, talent, and res-
pectability in its management and support ? I would also
inquire what fate attended the other Liverpool fire insurance
company called the " St. George," established some twenty
years previously ? Perhaps it will be found that some con-
nexion existed between the great Goree fire and this last men-
tioned company, and apprehensions of something very similar
retarded the progress of the " Liverpool Fire and Life Insurance
Company." It would also be well to ascertain what have been
the causes why no less than twenty-three of the most recently
established fire offices have found. it necessary to discontinue
business and dissolve their respective establishments.

In explanation of this part of my subject I beg to call the at-
tention of your readers to the following extracts from a circular
which was printed and distributed among the proprietary of the
Beacon Fire Office for their information :

't
" Statement delivered by the Board of Directors to the Pro-
prietors of the Beacon Fire-office at au_axtuordinavy general
court...held on the 234' February,-I FO2l :=
"GENTLEMEN,—The Board of Directors have felt it a duty
to call you together this day to obtain your opinion as to the
expediency of a turther instalment, for although by the deed of
Settlement they are empowered to make such call, whenever
they shall think fit, yet they cannot but be sensible that the
power so given was intended to be exercised only in cases where
it should obviously tend to the advantage of the proprietors, and
where no rational doubt could be entertained of their willing-
ness to advance the money.
"In the present instance the Board of Directors have not felt
sufficiently assured upon either of these points, to take upon
themselves the responsibility of so important a step, and thus it
is that we are met together on the present occasion.
" Gentlemen,—ln order that you may the more clearly and
completely understand the position of our affairs, it has been
thought convenient to prepare a statement, which I will now
read to you, and perhaps you will have the goodness to carry
your attention back to the period of our first establishment, in
the month of March, 1822. At that period the premiums on in-
surances were thought by many persons to be generally too high;
and it was conceived that by establishing a new company at a re-
dustios of 25 per cent., a large business would be speedily drawn
from other ewers, and that new insurers would of course prefer
the cheaper market.
"At this time the rage for speculation had not attained its
greatest height, and there seemed to be room enough for at
least one more fire-office in 'this metropolis. Accordingly the
Beacon Fire Insurance Company was formed, and the business
lof insuring was commenced on the 30th March, 1822. Gentle-
men, you will take notice that the nominal capital of this company
was to be £200,000, and that the shares were to be £lOO shares;
that the sum of 25 per cent. only was to he paid up by instalments
at stated periods; and although it could not be actually stipulated
that no more would be afterwards called for, yet it was given to be
understood as in the highest degree improbable. It was not long
after the company's formation, before the nominal capital was
found to be too small, or rather that its amount was drawn into
comparison with the amount of capital of other companies, and
as the principle of reduction on whieh the Beacon was esta-
blished was entirely novel, and not adopted by the other offices,
the same degree of confidence was not generally felt, that that
office would be able, under ordinary circumstances, to meet its en-
gagements with the public."
This statement also contains a very long and full account of
the proceedings of the Beacon Fire Insurance Company, and
the subjoined " abstract," which gives in a condensed form the
Profits made and the losses sustained by that office, will I Immo