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Article THE GENERAL ASSURANCE ADVOCATE. ← Page 5 of 7 →
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The General Assurance Advocate.
surances , ' and ' cross-assurances , ' all intended to have the same signification . The Legal and Commercial Fire Company put down their subscription capital of 188 , 560 / . among their ' receipts , ' although the amount paid up is only 8 , 571 / ., but the difference is put down as ' expenditure , ' under the head of liability to the shareholders , and so the account is balanced . The castings of the various totals are often
erroneous ; and the Mercantile Life Association have contrived in one of their balance-sheets to reverse the items of' receipts' and ' expenditure . ' and under the latter we have such inexplicable phrases as ' charges account , 7 , 405 / ., ' and ' risks emerged , 4 , 349 / . ' The Phoenix Life Assurance Company , of Liverpool , after receiving premiums to the amount of 830 / ., and paying losses of 527 / ., owes 56 / ., and has no assets , except 43 / . out on loan .
" The accounts of the Agricultural Cattle Insurance Company seem to show that out of a nominal capital of 500 , 000 / ., 39 , 300 / . has been called up , of which 10 , 672 / . remains unpaid , leaving the sum actually received from the shareholders 28 , 628 / ., and that to meet this sum , and also the liabilities on all the policies now outstanding , the balance remaining is not more than 9 , 326 / ., of which 7 , 436 / . appears to be due
from ' sundry agents '—the probable amount of outstanding risk being only ascertainable from the apparent fact of 55 , 470 / . having been received for premiums during the past year . It is also to be remarked in the affairs of this company that in the preliminary expenses law charges figure for 1 , 217 / ., and commission on the sale of shares 333 / ., while the Directors received during the first year of its management 568 / ., and
during the second year 971 / . There are also salaries and ' sundries' of the most extensive and unexplained kind , and it likewise appears that while the company have been paying dividends amounting to about 1 , 400 / , they have been obliged to pay upwards of 400 / . interest on
money borrowed . The losses already settled by the company during the three years of its existence seem to have been 131 , 362 / ., and the premiums received have been about 150 , 000 / . " In submitting these details we must remind the public that while in the majority of cases there is a singular absence of any evidence of security , there is also no necessary ground for particular apprehension .
There may be in almost every instance a careful set of Directors , and a solvent or wealthy body of proprietors , in which case the assured will be safe , although no immediate provision for any emergency may appear to have been made . The onl y inference , therefore , that would be warranted at present is that the public should be careful in any transactions they may have with the respective offices to ascertain these points . Meanwhile , it seems highly desirable that if the Government profess to collect information regarding such establishments , they should
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The General Assurance Advocate.
surances , ' and ' cross-assurances , ' all intended to have the same signification . The Legal and Commercial Fire Company put down their subscription capital of 188 , 560 / . among their ' receipts , ' although the amount paid up is only 8 , 571 / ., but the difference is put down as ' expenditure , ' under the head of liability to the shareholders , and so the account is balanced . The castings of the various totals are often
erroneous ; and the Mercantile Life Association have contrived in one of their balance-sheets to reverse the items of' receipts' and ' expenditure . ' and under the latter we have such inexplicable phrases as ' charges account , 7 , 405 / ., ' and ' risks emerged , 4 , 349 / . ' The Phoenix Life Assurance Company , of Liverpool , after receiving premiums to the amount of 830 / ., and paying losses of 527 / ., owes 56 / ., and has no assets , except 43 / . out on loan .
" The accounts of the Agricultural Cattle Insurance Company seem to show that out of a nominal capital of 500 , 000 / ., 39 , 300 / . has been called up , of which 10 , 672 / . remains unpaid , leaving the sum actually received from the shareholders 28 , 628 / ., and that to meet this sum , and also the liabilities on all the policies now outstanding , the balance remaining is not more than 9 , 326 / ., of which 7 , 436 / . appears to be due
from ' sundry agents '—the probable amount of outstanding risk being only ascertainable from the apparent fact of 55 , 470 / . having been received for premiums during the past year . It is also to be remarked in the affairs of this company that in the preliminary expenses law charges figure for 1 , 217 / ., and commission on the sale of shares 333 / ., while the Directors received during the first year of its management 568 / ., and
during the second year 971 / . There are also salaries and ' sundries' of the most extensive and unexplained kind , and it likewise appears that while the company have been paying dividends amounting to about 1 , 400 / , they have been obliged to pay upwards of 400 / . interest on
money borrowed . The losses already settled by the company during the three years of its existence seem to have been 131 , 362 / ., and the premiums received have been about 150 , 000 / . " In submitting these details we must remind the public that while in the majority of cases there is a singular absence of any evidence of security , there is also no necessary ground for particular apprehension .
There may be in almost every instance a careful set of Directors , and a solvent or wealthy body of proprietors , in which case the assured will be safe , although no immediate provision for any emergency may appear to have been made . The onl y inference , therefore , that would be warranted at present is that the public should be careful in any transactions they may have with the respective offices to ascertain these points . Meanwhile , it seems highly desirable that if the Government profess to collect information regarding such establishments , they should