The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-14 00:00:00

REPORT BY THE DIRECTORS.

The Directors have again the pleasure of reporting a larger
amount of new business in the past than in any prevtous
year.

- The number of Policies issued has been 472 ; the sum assured-
by these amounting to A 213,631 155., and the Annual Premiums
to .t'6171 Os. sd. In addition to these, proposals for a large
amount of Assurances were offered, but declined.

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the past year has been
one of extreme pressure on the resources of almost every class
of society. So large an amount of new business could, thbre-
fore, have scarcely been anticipated; and it is peculiarly grati-
fying, as an evidence of the extension of Life Assurance gene-

iallf,-and of the growing conviction on the part of the public of
the advantages offered by this Institution. It is interesting ikt
the same time, in a general point of view, to notice that, so' far
as the Directors had the means of tracing, only a very small
proportion of the Assurances were made in connection with
loans, nearly the whole having been effected for purposes pf
family provision. The effect of the commercial occurrences of
the past and of general scarcity of money, has, bow-
year,

ever, been shown in a different way—iii the unusually large
number of Assurances which have been surrendered or allowed
to expire, from inability to continue payment of the Premiums.'
While this is a result which, in its general aspect, is to be re-
gretted, there is no doubt it is yet a source of considerable gain.
to the common fund.

The number of deaths in the year of Members assured for
capital sums has been 32, and the amount of claims thereby
emerging £17,800; on the other hand three Annuities Wive
fallen in, for two of which sums amounting to £l5OO had 're-
cently been sunk. The third was of smaller amount. Clinsi-
derinF the almost unprecedented mortality over the country,
the Directors do not doubt that the C• " '

—untributors would be pre
pared to expect a higher rate in their own body than has °deur-
red hitherto, and they consider they have cause for congratula-
tion in the fact that, notwithstanding their increased numbers,

• ••••-saltocz
in the year do not exceed one and a quarter per cent. of 'the
whole number, a proportion considerably short of the average
number provided for by the Tables of the Society.
The net amount of Assurances subsisting at 31st December,
1847, was '1,137,657 9s. ; and the income, from premiums
alone, exclusive of revenue from accumulated fund, <€31,344.
The position of the London Branch has occupied much of the
attention of the directors, during the year. After mature con-
sideration, they were unanimously of opinion that it was essen-
tial for the interests of the Society that a new agent should he
appointed to conduct the business of the Branch. Unfortu-
nately, some difference of views regarding the constitution of
the Branch, in relation to the general management of the
Institution, occurred between the General Board and the Local
Directors, which, they regret to say, resulted in the resignation
of the latter gentlemen. To their influence is, undoubtedly, in
a great measure, to be attributed the decided success which
has attended the establishment of the Branch; and it is grati-
fyiug therefore to know, as the Directors do from the best of
all evidence, that their withdrawal has not in any way dimi-
nished their good will towards the Institution, and that their
influence will still be exerted in its favour.

•
The Directors do not propose to supply. their place in the
mean time, but to conduct the business in immediate conaee-
tion with the Head Office—for which the rapid communica-
tion between Edinburgh and London now affords increased
facility.

They have appointed Mr. WII.AIER OWEN HARRIS to the
office of Agent and Secretary, and they trust that, in this
annointment and in their . . .

Luc ~,,,, uru eon increase(' success of the Branch.
In regard to the Glasgow Branch, the directors have much
satisfaction in reporting that its progress is, in all respects,
satisfactory, and that a large increase of business has been
made in the year. They have also the pleasure of reportinglhe
continued interest taken in the Society by the gentlemen asso-
ciated as an Honorary Board in Manchester.
In the circular letters and advertisements calling this meet-
ing, the contributors were made aware that the preliminary
steps have been taken for obtaining from Parliament an Act
conferring on the Society the privileges and benefits of Incor-.
poration. The Bill contains a few slight alterations on some
of the minor details of the deed of constitution. These have
already been unanimously approved of by two consecutive
sjoecial meetings of the Board of Directors, to the latter of which
the Auditors and Trustee: were invited—all in terms of Act
37 of the Deed of Constitution.

The Directors have further to report that, a vacancy having
occurred in their number, by the resignation of Mr. Robert.
Robertson, they unanimously nominated Mr. AITKEN AIEGGET,,
one of the original Directors, in his place.
A vacancy having also occnrred in the body of Trustees, by
the death of one of their number, the Directors unanimously
appointed to that office Mr. CHARLES CowAN, Member of Par-,
liament for the City.

It remains for this meeting to confirm these appointinints,
as well as to appoint three Directors in room of the three at
the top of the list, who now retire in terms of the rules.
The heads of the Bill for Incorporation, referred to in the
report, having been read, and the Bill laid on the table—
Mr. JOHN SCHANK MORE, Professor of Scots Law in the,
University of Edinburgh, said,—l have been somewhat unex-
pectedly called upon to propose a motion for the adoption of
this meeting, which, however, I do with the greatest plea Sure,
because I have always taken a deep interest in the success and
prosperity of this Institution. I had many interesting consul-
tations with my late friend Mr. Cleghorn, before this Institution
was formed, and I was so satisfied of the sound and scientific
principles on which it was based, that I never doubted that, as
soon as they came to be understood, it would meet witlr that
general favour and support which I am glad to see it has, to
such an extent, received. There were two great principles: on
which Mr. Cleghorn proceeded. The first was to make the
Premiums as low as was consistent with the entire safety of the
Institution, and so as to secure, beyond all risk, the fulfilment
of its obligations. In this respect, most of the existing Assur-
ance Companies had been misled by the Northampton tables,
and bad made the Premiums for young lives—in which I in-
clude ages up to fifty or so—much higher than was necessary,
while their tables for the older lives were somewhat 'too' low.
This error was perceived by Mr. Cleghorn, who, from more
recent and better calculated mortality tables, found tacit the
premiums for these younger lives could besafely and very con-
siderably reduced; and he framed a table which all subsequent
experience has proved to be singularly correct. lam happy to
say that, since this table was framed by Mr. Cleghorn, the
Registrar-General of England has appended to one of his late
Reports a table for the guidance of Life Assurance Societies ;
and it is very gratifying to find that the rates specified in that
table are nearly the same, and in many instances precisely the
same, with those of this Institution. Now one of the chief and
Immediate benefits resulting from this reduction of the pre-
miums upon the younger lives is, that it operates as a direct
bonus in favour of every Insurer, when the premiums of this
Institution are contrasted with those payable to the older, As-
surance Societies. It operates in this way. A person of twenty
years of age, insuring with this Institution, can, for th'e pay-
ment of the same annual sum which other offices would demand
for insuring £lOO, insure here £ll5 or ~el2O, payable imme-
diately on his death. The Premium payable to this Institution
for £lOO is 15s. M., while, in other Offices, it is .e 2 15.16 d., or
or 3s. 2d., and, in sonic, still higher. There is thus an
immediate and certain benefit secured by the lower rates' of
premium. But the second, and most important improvement
suggested by Mr. Cleghorn was this, that if any profits should
be made, after paying all expenses and securing all the Wigs=
lions, as must be the case, even at his reduced rates of pre-
mium,these were not to be frittered away among those instrrers,
or their representatives, whose contributions to the general
fund could never possibly have tended to make such. profits,
but should be reserved for distribution among those contribuf
tors whose payments into the general fund had come to be equal
to the sum assured. The importance of this impmvement has
never, I think, been sufficiently estimated. And truly the
practice which has prevailed in several highly respectable and
flourishing Mutual Assurance Societies, of giving a share of
what they call their bonuses or profiis to the representatives of
every insurer, who has been such for five years, is, to say the
least, very strange, and seems to indicate a very limited know-
ledge of the true principles of. Life Assurance. It reminds me
of the old rule by whi .11 originally all lives, whether yoitig or
old, were equally insured at the same invariable rate of p per
cent. The absurdity of this rule was soon discovered; but
truly the other is not much less absurd. Why, in five or seven
years, every life shotild.get the same share of what are called
profits, is utterly incomprehensible. The delay is plainly in-
tended to approximate somewhat to the smn assured ; but this
can never be done upon reasonable principles, till there be a
graduated scale, corresponding to the age of the parties, ac-
cording to which the profits shall be distributed among the
policies which fall. If any Office were to insure a person at 75
years of age, which, I dare say, few Offices would do, I have no
doubt the premiums would be so high that, in five yeitrs, it
would approximate to the sum insured ; and if this sum were
£lOO, and if 2 per cent. yearly of 'profits were to he added, for
each of the five years, supposing the policy then to fall, the slim
payable would be £llO. But suppose a young man 9f; 20 to
insure £lOO at .e 2 a year, and to pay the premium 'for five
years, and then to die, his representatives would equally draw
2 per cent. yearly upon his policy, and would also get £llO, so
that all that the office would receive by this t rail sact!onweSild be
the interest min the premiums which had been paid. N

Long,. .
surely, can be more absurd than this. It might be thought
that these representatives, drawing the X'loo insured, dr xgo
more than they had paid into the office, would get .a sntlieiently
handsome return for the
.policy ; and why,., over and ahcve,
they should have all the premiums returned iv them; tinder the
=we of boisits, I cannot conceive. Yet this it the footing upon