LARGE SUMS HANDLED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 167, 11 April 1935, Page 15

LARGE SUMS HANDLED

Donations to Charity Constructive insurance service for more than three generations is reflected to-day in the staggering sums of money handled by the Prudential Assurance Company. The assets at December 31, 1934, exceeded 1290,000,000, the annual income exceeded £50,800,000, and the total claims paid totalled more than £400,000,000. Claims on life policies in 1934 topped the £28,500,000 mark, the total new business amounted to fully £85,500,000, while the life policies in force numbered over 28,000,000. As a result of the Great War the company had paid out by August. 1920. no less than £5,300,000 under life as- • surance policies in respect of over 249,000 deaths directly due to the war. The directors of the Prudential Company have always realised how closely the interests of their great “life’’ business are affected by the state of the public health, and have consistently endeavoured to assist the maintenance and expansion of alleviative and curative organisations by annual contributions. Many thousands of pounds per annum are subscribed to support 322 Prudential beds and 508 cots in hospitals in London and other cities. The company has endowed a Chair of Public Health in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; pathological laboratories at the Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children, the Charing Cross Hospital, and the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, and has provided X-ray apparatus at St. Peter’s Hospital, Covent Garden, Infants’ Hospital, Westminster, and the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat, Golden Square. Help has been given to the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, in setting up the biochemical laboratory, and contributions were made to equip the operating theatre at St. Paul’s Hospital, Endell Street, and for the purchase of linen and towels for the British Red Cross Society’s clinic for the treatment of rheumatism at Peto Place, Marylebone Road. The endeavours of the company to assist in the preservation of human life and the relief of human suffering, however, extend further atield than the realms of medicine and surgery. The “Prudential,” a mdtor lifeboat, is the gift of this company. The lifeboat was launched at ’Ram (gate, is still located there, and many lives have since been saved by her crew. The Prudential commenced as a “life company,” and carried on “life” business until the year 1919, when it was decided by the directors that in order to meet the wishes of their clients, and to become a fullyequipped company, other classes of insurance should be undertaken. A new branch was opened, which, as it was to transact so many classes of business, was called the “General

Branch.” This branch now under takes fire, marine and all sections o accident and casualty insurance. Thi premium income from the accidem branch in 1934 amounted to ovet £3,121,402. 1