WHAT GREAT HEN ARK INSURED FOR.

Lake County Press, Issue 2159, 7 March 1907, Page 7

WHAT GREAT HEN ARK INSURED FOR.

In tho early days of life ftssnranoe there was practically no limit to the amount which could be insured upon a single policy. Neither was it insisted upon by the companies that the person effecting the insurance should possess an ' insurable interest,' as it has since been termed, iu tho insured person's life. But tho crimes of Palmer, the Rugeloy poisoner, changed all this, and roused tho insurance companies to a sonso of the terrible risks they unwittingly incurred in permitting themsoives to undertake tho responsibility of what practically amounted to putting a premium upon a murder. Of lato years, however, partly owing to the stress of oorupetilion among the companies themselves, and partly to tho largo increase iu tho number of very rich men, these gigantic policies have again become popular. Last autumn, for instanco, Mr. Georgo Vauderbilt, tho American millionaire, prior to setting out on a trip round the world, insured himself with the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York in tho ENORMOUS suji op £200,000. Of this amount tho ori?,iu".l company retained a half risk, distributicg the remainder anions: a number of London offices. This £IOO,OOO risk constitutes, up to cow, the record policy for a single life held by a single company. Mr Vauderbilt, however, is a man of sturdy constitution, of regular habits, and only about thirty, five years of age. Moreover, the insurance was only for a stipulated period, more than half of which has now elapsed? It seems likely, therefore, that the heavy premium paid will bo all clear profi 1 ;. Still—what a risk! The lives of the Queen and tho Prince of Wales are, as most people are aware, very heavily insured: so much so that it is doubtful if there is an office in the kingdom that would caro to increase its holding" This species of insurance is, in most instances, pure gambling. But occasional policies are taken out to cover contingent losses upon leaseholds, which have been issued by speculative ground-landlords for tho term of Her Majestx's or the Prince's Life, as the case may he. Not infrequently the original holders of these curious insurances are unable or unwilling to continue tho payments, and in consequence tho policies come into tho market. Since 1S "JO, in which this peculiar and little-kuowu branch of insurance business first became prominent, there have been some scores of these sales. Only about a year ago, for instance, a four thousaud pounds poiicy on the Duke of Connaught's life was disposed of by private treaty for a little over a fourth of its face value. A joint policy on tho lives of tho ex-King of Hanover and the Duke of Cambridge was also in tho market about the same time. It was eagerly bid for, und wa.3 eventually knocked down to a well-kuowa sporting financier. In this particular instance, the Hanoverian monarch being dead, the insurance will become payable on tho decease of the ex-Commander-in-Chief. Rut his Royal Highness, although he is nearly eighty years of age, is of sound constitution, and comes of an exceptionally long-lived race. It is, therefore, quite 'on the cards' that tho policy may not constitute a realisable assot for some little time to come. Apart from Royal personages, concerning whom no really reliable statistics are readily obtainable, Lord Rothschild's life carries the heaviest insurance of any man's in England, if not iu the world. He has, in fact, practically filled up all tho London and most of tho provincial offices, tho total policies exceeding in value a quarter of a million sterling. In this connection a curious story is current. The groat financier ia in tho habit of travelling to town every day, by a certain train, from his country residence, Tring Park, Hertfordshire. And every day, by tho samo traiu, there Journeys with him a young, alert, keen-visaged man, whoso business is a mystery to everyone—to everyone, that is, save the insurance companies whose confidential agent ho is. It is his duty to watch over—in the interest of his employers, of course—the safety of the emperor of the financial world. A single insurance premium of over £IOO,OOO sounds a 'big order,' oven in these days of colossal speculations. Yet it has been paid. Tho dato was the Bth of December, 188!); the office the Mutual Life Insurance Company ; and the person paying was the lato Mr A. T. Havemeyer, at that, timo tho American Consul-'ienerol at Vienna. Tho exact sum for which the cheque was drawn was £115,059; and for this were secured no fewer turn five separate policies of £20,000 each, on five dilferent members of the Havemeyer family, in addition to certain valuable contingent benefits. This constitutes, as may bo well imagined, a record in PREsrrosrs: the next biggest being ot>e of £27,270, paid by a certain Mr James Hill, an American railway magnate, toe this sum the company has guaranteed the insurer's heirs an immediate policy of £20,000, with a big addition for each year of insurance should Mr Hill die before 1902; while, should he survive that poriod, a life income of £2,5( 0, together with payment of the principal at death, will bo his. A gigantic us well a3 sn exceedingly curious policy was that negotiated by Prince Henry of I'russia just before he quitted Kiel to take over tho command of the German squadron in Chinese waters. Tho insurance was for a sum equivalent to about £IBO,OOO iu our mouoy ; hut the risk was particularly specified to death by the hand of au only. It would be interesting to know exactly what was passing m the Royal mind when he entered into this strange compact. It may have beeu that he was thinking of the fate which so nearly overtook the trksent Czar of Russia when in tho same quarter of tho globe some ynars back. in the above article tho instances have been confined to life assurance. In other branches of insurance business policies ior much larger amounts than those quoted are occasionally drawn up. Only quite recently, for example, tho well-known Liverpool shipping firm of Elder, Dempster, and Co. efiected an insurance upon Their fleet of steamers for £3,000,000. The rate was 5 per cent, per annum. CansequeJitlz the yearly premium figures out at £160,000. Something like an insurance policy, this !