Page 6 Advertisements Column 4

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 229, 22 June 1920, Page 6

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE CORPORATION. INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER, A.D., 1720.

A remarkable gathering will be assembled in tho City of London to-day, when the controlling officers of tho Royal Exchange Assurance from all parts of tho .world will assemble to 6hare in the celebration of the bi-cen-tcnary of this old-established institution. Notwithstanding that the Royal Exchange Assurance has been operating lnthis Dominion for very many years, it is possible that very few people in this distant part of the globo realise to the .full that the operations of the Corporation have been carried on. for a period of two hundred years. The Corporation was first organised in tho year 1717, but the petition for the Royal sanction made, it seems, but slow progress through tho Council and tho AttorneyGeneral's Department; for the South Sea Bubble was then raging, and many of the Ministers, including tho Attor-ney-General himself (who was indeed afterwards prosecuted), had.shares in tho Great Bubble scheme and (it is recorded) wished as far as possible to secure for it the exclusivo attention of tho company. The petitioners therefore (ender high legal authority) at once commenced business •unefpr ,the temporary title of the Mining Royal Mineral and Batteries Works,, and in threequarters of a year insured property to the nmouiit of nearly two millions sterling. After the lapse of two years, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, eager for the money to bo paid for the chnrter, and a select committee having made a rigid inquiry into tho project and tho cash lodged at tho bank to meet losses, recommended the grant to the House of Commons. The Act of tho oth George 1. Cap. 18 authorised tho King to grant a chartor, which was aocordingly done June 22, 1720. In 1721 tho Royal Exohange Assurance obtained another charter for assurance on lives. Copies of the ohnrters are in possession of the general manager for New Zealand at the Now Zealand Head Office of the Corporation at Wellington. It is interesting to note that the first Royal Exchange was practically destroyed'by fire in 1001 during' tho plague fires. The second Royal Exchange was destroyed by fire on January 10, 1838. Tho present Royal Exchange was opened by Quoen Victoria on October 28, 18W. Her Majesty at the opening cereluonv repented the formula: "It is my Royal will and pleasure that this building bo hereafter called 'The Royal Exchange.' " Tho progress of the Corporation in all branches of the- business during the pust 200 years has been mnrvellous, and today its business connections touch all parts of the world, including the islands of tho South Sen. The New Zenland branch is conducted in and controlled from Wellington, while branches and agencies are established in all parts of tho Dominion. A board of directors is appointed, and resides in Wellington, and consists of Messrs. William Brown, George Wilson, and Alexander Macintosh, Mr. Osmond R. Bendall being tho general manager for New Zealand. The presence of this institution in this Dominion has been, and still is, of advantage to New Zealand. The Corporation not only transacts all olasscs of insurance business, but has also large investments in property and advances on liii/i'lgage.—Advt.

Be jndpre and jury and five "NAZOL" a trial. There can be only one verdict— "Absolutely competent to cure colds, influenza, bronchitis, ami nasa! onturrh." -Advt.