The Royal Insurance Company.

purpose of protecting themselves hy guarantee from undue limits on any one risk . Hence , in no small degree they consider they oive their exemption from any very large claim on any single insurance during the year , the largest amount of loss on any one strictly individual risk being little more than £ 6 , 000 . They have not been hindered from this prudent course

by the consideration that when their guarantee account was last investigated it was found that , for a period of six years , the company had paid £ 88 , 934 Ss . Gd . more , in the shape of premium to its guaranteeing connection , than it received in amount of claims . It wouldhoiveverbe incousistent with a

, , true stability of purpose ( Avhich should remain unmoved by aecidentol or erratic results ) if the directors were drawn from a prudent course of action by any experience of this kind covering a limited space of time only .

LIFE BBANOH . Turning now to the life branch , it remains to be reported that the progress has been marked by unchecked success . This will be made clear by one or two statistical expositions . Taking the four previous quinquennial periods , it

is found that the first , from 1845 to 1849 , inclusive , commenced Avith a sum assured of £ 23 , 349 , and ended the period with a total sum assured of £ 272 , 796 . The Second , 1850-54 , £ 95 , 650 , and ended the period with a total sum assured of £ 733 , 408 . The Third 1855-60 £ 206514 and ended the period

, , , , with a total sum assured of £ 1 , 655 , 678 . The Eourth , 1860-64 , £ 449 , 242 , and ended the period with a total sum assured of £ 3 , 439 , 215 . . _ And now the first year of tho fifth like period , viz ., 1865 , the company has granted assurances for £ 886 , 663 7 s . Sd ., nearly twice the amount at the

commencement of the last quinquennial period—more than one million sterling having been proposed during the year . The amount of declined lives alone is £ 189 , 947 Is . 2 d . If , therefore , the result of the total five years , ending in the year 1869 , were to have a corresponding increase with the pievious periods of five years each , the amount of business that would be effected in the

quinquennial period UOAV running would be more than has ever been on record in any insurance establishment in this country . The directors likewise have to report that the life and annuity funds have increased by the sum of £ 103 , 146 7 s . 3 d . A further important testimonyhoweveris iven

, , g that the Eoyal has not even yet arrived at the zenith of its favour Avith the public , by the fact that the sum assured for the six months of the present year , after deducting all guarantees thrown off , almost reaches half a million sterling , the actual amount being £ 499 , 124 4 s . 3 d ., a sum larger than the total amount

assured for tlie entire year commencing the last quinquennial period , so that , at any rate for one further year , the impetus of continued advance is not likel y to slacken . In this department the shareholders and policy-holders have the opportunity , of which it is trusted they will avail themselvenot onlto keep

, y up the hi gh position of the Eoyal , but even to advance it considerably . The result of such an activity on their part , it is confidently affirmed , would so tell upon the permanent prosperity of the establishment

The Royal Insurance Company.

that the favourable result of tlie property of the shareholder aud on the profits of the life assurer would be such as would exceed their highest anticipations . The consideration of the dividend and bonus for the year forms the onlremaining topic of the

rey port . The directors propose to the proprietors that a dividend be declared of 3 s . per share , and a bonus of 4 s . per share , together 7 s . per share , free of income tax . It is a matter of satisfaction to state that after

withdrawing the amount of this dividend and' bonus from the profit and loss account , a credit balance will still remain to that account of no less than £ 62 , 076 9 s . in addition to the reserve fund , ivhich , by the augmentation of the year , now reaches the sum . of £ 116 , 913 2 s . iOd .

Notwithstanding , therefore , the comparatively unfavourable aspect of the fire insurance business these two funds together will now he actually more than they were only three years previously ( 1862 ) by the sum of £ 24 , 743 lis . Sd . The period of 21 years which UOAV marks the

existence of the Eoyal Insurance Company naturally suggests one word of reference to the history of the growth of this establishment up to its present state of maturity .

The Sewing Machine.

THE SEWING MACHINE .

Mechanism may be truly said to have revolutionised some of the old systems of labour , and happily where machinery has been introduced as a substitute for human toil the artizan or labourer has heen found to he better off . Into this question it is not our present purpose to enter , but simply to direct attention to what we may now call " a domestic institution . " The

sewing machine , having recently witnessed them in operation , in the new , extensive , and elegantly-fitted up show rooms of Messrs . Grover and Baiter , liegentstreet . Not many years ago there Avas talk of it as a thing not quite accomplishedbut about to be ; and almost

, any expert needlewoman could demonstrate in a few minutes that nothing effective of the kind could ever be arranged , simply because the necessity of the needle going through the cloth and returning before a stitch could be formed , made the thing a bald impossibility . By-and-bye this question was ansAvered , and

after a time it Avas demonstrated that one sewing machine Avould do work Avith the celerity of as many sewing women as could he set around it in a 20 ft . circle . But no sooner had it been demonstrated that seAving could be done by machinery than a host of inventions appeared with devices to overcome the

various objections , and in a short time the comparatively crude idea of HOAA' 6 , by the addition of these inventions , assumed the form of & really practical seAving machine . The difficulty of seAving curved seams disappeared before the "feeding" inventions ; contrivances innumerable regulated the thread

tensions ; attachments for hemming , tucking , cording , braiding , & c , were added soon after ; and the question then Avas not , could the machine SCAV ? but , ivas there any description of sewing which it could not