THE PRUDENTIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 85, 10 April 1935, Page 13

THE PRUDENTIAL

NEW BUILDING OPENED

OFFICIAL CEREMONY

The value of insurance to the nation was referred to by the Acting Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) this morning when he declared the new Prudential Assurance building on Lambton Quay open for business. Insurance companies, he said, accumulated funds that were of great value to both local and national governments, and the action of the Prudential Company in building during the depression had done a great deal towards restoring confidence. About 150 persons, representing the civic and business life of Wellington, attended the opening function, which took the form of morning tea in a large hall in the basement of the building. A short toast list was honoured and after the building had been declared open, Mr. C. F. Warren, F.1.A., general manager for Australia and New Zealand of the Prudential Assurance Co., Ltd., presented Mr. Coates with a gold key as a memento of the occasion, and wished him a pleasant trip to Britain and success in his mission there. The function commenced with the loyal toast, Mr. Warren, who presided, remarking that the toast of his Majesty the King had a special significance in that the Silver Jubilee of their Majesties was to be celebrated next month. "I am pleased to be present this morning for the purpose of opening this building," said Mr. Coates. "I should like to congratulate the Prudential Assurance Company on its vision and enterprise in erecting so magnificent a monument to the company's strength and stability: it is a building which does credit to the capital city. arid enhances its beauty. I hope that, as times improve, it will set a standard of architecture which other business, houses will be able to follow. THE PAET OF INSURANCE. "The part which" insurance plays in the economic life of the community cannot be over-estimated. It offers facilities to the private citizen to make such provision for the future of himself and his dependants as would be difficult, if not impossible, in its absence. It lifts from the shoulders of business enterprise many of the uncertainties and risks of loss which unavoidably afflict it. This it performs at a cost which is small in proportion to the service rendered. In the absence of insurance, such uncertainties and risks would involve a heavy cost which would /be reflected' in higher prices to the' consumer. But insurance companies do rhore than this. In the course of their business they accumulate an enormous volume of capital. In the last resort, this represents the liability of the companies to policyholders, but until such liability requires" to be met the funds are a tremendous source of financial strength and represent a fund for investment to meet the needs of industry and trade and of local and national governments." The Prudential Assurance Company, Limited, was established in 1848, Mr. Coates continued. It was originally established as a purely life insurance office, but it now took all classes of business, and had become one of the! great British insurance companies,] with branches throughout the world and with assets and funds reaching the colossal total of £277,000,000. FINANCING THE EXCHEQUER. ■•■■Mr. Coates went on to.. - tell how Britain wanted £13,000,000 worth of war material from the United States during the Great War and was faced with a dangerous and damaging blow to British financial prestige in New York because there were no Government balances left in the United States. Mr. McKenria, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, sent for the directors of the Prudential Insurance Company and asked how much the company had in American securities. The answer was "Forty million dollars." "Will you give them to me and let me settle later?" said the Chancellor. The directors replied that they would, and at 10 o'clock next morning the whole amount required was paid over in America. As Lord Beayerbrook said in his book, "Politicians and the War," the Prudential deserved well of England. • "The company is a comparatively recent entrant into New Zealand, its establishment here being as late as 1923," Mr. Coates continued. "It' is gratifying that the company has thus early in its history in this country expressed its faith in the future of the Dominion by investing in this splendid building. No doubt the company has been influenced by the fact that insurance of all kinds,, and particularly life insurance, seems to be popular | with New Zealanders. According to a statement prepared in 1933 by the, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, j New Zealand occupies third place throughout the world in life insurance per head of population. The United States ranks first, Canada second, New Zealand third, Australia fourth, and. the United Kingdom fifth. POSITION OF INSURANCE. "Insurance in this country, like other businesses, has suffered in the depression, but it is advancing once more as signs of recovery have appeared. The latest comparative figures j for the Dominion issued by the Government Statistician indicate that the downward trend in new life business was arrested in 1933. Discontinuance of policies, which had assumed serious proportions in 1931 and > 1932, j showed a substantial decrease in 193.}, and the net result of the transactions for 1933 was to increase the amount in force by £781,974, as compared with a net decrease of £609,240 in the previous year. . "Insurance offices operating in New Zealand, although mostly private corporations, shoulder great public responsibilities and these responsibilities must increase With the needs of an advancing civilisation, with increasing recognition of the need , for making provision against risks of all kinds. Insurance offices are , entrusted with vast sums—in 1933 over £7,000,000, or £4 12s 7d per head was paid by the public of New Zealand for insurance protection by way of insurance premiums—and the very nature of the business, promising as it does benefits in the future, demands from directors and management the very highest qualities of prudence and integrity. "Generally speaking, insurance offices in this country are fully seized of their responsibilities and we have never yet had a serious failure. It woud be a national disaster if such a failure occurred, and it cannot be too strongly urged that the supreme virtue of insurance is full security for the due performance of all contracts entered into. Without security, insurance would cease to be a service and would become a trap for the prudent. "It is with the greatest pleasure and all good wishes for the future, that I declare this building duly opened," OTHER TOASTS.

The toast of "The Government" was proposed by Mr. H. H. Moseloy, M.A., director of the Prudential Assurance Co., London, who said the New Zealand Government was held in the highest esteem in Britain, where the progress of the Dominion through the slump had been watched \vith the greatest interest." He congratulated the Government in the way in which it had handled many difficult problems, particularly unemployment. ' The Minister of Lands (the Hon. E.. A. Ransom) responded. Other: toasts honoured were, "The,