ANNUAL REPORT AND MEETING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4128, 13 June 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

ANNUAL REPORT AND MEETING.

3&e Thirty-eighth Annual Meeting of the Proprietors of the above Company was held on the 25th inst., at the Company's offices, Dale-street, Liverpool. Mr. T. C-C' Brocklebank occupied the chair. The following C V report was taken as read : CC The Directors have much pleasure in reporting on the Operations of the Company for the year 1873. The accompanying statement of accounts exhibits to the Proirietors the working of the business of the year, and the inancial position of the Company. In the Eire Department the Directors, in order to guard as far as possible ijjaihst such losses as they were subjected to in 1871 and 1872, haye pursued a most eautious policy, not only in declining to insure certain classes of property, and iu from places which have been unremunerative, but tlso in materially reducing the amounts retained by the Dbmpany on individual risks. This policy has necessarily reduced the amount of premium that would otherwise iayß been received, but it has greatly added to the secu|ty~of the business, and although the Directors are designs/that revenue should not only be maintained, but jjmreased, yet safety and profit are their primary objects Iphe conduct of your affairs. The surplus shown on the frfe Account is £299,417 Os. lid. The Life business of fte Globe Company, requiring by Act of Parliament to be p|jued,as on the 31st December, 1873, the Directors have, is on that date, also valued the other life contracts of the Company. It is their intention, in the future, to value SUinquehially the entire life business. The valuation igfows a' surplus on the Life and Annuity business of 884,251 ss. 7d.. Coincident with the valuation of the life ||siness, the Directors have carefully re-valued the secua|ies of the Company, and in the result the same were ip#,737 3s. 9d., iu excess of the amount at which they sood in the books of the Company. In Investment FlucUaHon/Fund there, was also an amount of £10,212 15s. iQcL, in excess of what, in a re-valuation, was necessary b ineet the requirements of the Fund. These amounts i&ve therefore been earned to profit and loss. The jxperienee of _ the past two years has convinced the Directors that it is not only prudent, but essential, to have ||arge reserve fund; they have, therefore, determined to sarry from profit and loss account £449,881 12s. 4d. to •general Reserve Pund, leaving a balance of £22,155 Bs. pd., which is carried forward to next year’s account. sie General Reserve Fund now stands at £600,000. The lireetors have determined, subject to the approbation of ie Shareholders, to pay a dividend of ten per cent., and girrants will be issued for the same, payable on the sth fo;ximo. During the year the Directors have to regret i|/loss of a valued colleague in Mr. Edward Tootal, who piug hisVlong connection with the Company had always a deep interest in its prosperity. The Directors who |ire at this meeting by rotation are : —Mr. Harold LittleifeMr- Chas. I. Forget, Mr.* 11. B. Gilmour, Mr. Thos. .W. D. Holt, Mr. H. H; Nicholson, Mr. J. and being elegible, they offer themselves for PfcHbn. f , Thob. Beocklebank, Chairman. fsLiyerpool, 21sl ; February, 1874. teg. \

io CnAiuMAK-, moving the adoption of the report, said that the i por contained such an ample exposition of the business of the company uring he past year,, that he did not intend even to- advert to any of the ea mg eatures of the business ; but he found they liad there that day the p easure ot the company of the Chairman of the London Board, Sir Charles T r, C ri° S °n (bear.; hear) —also the Chairman of the Life Committee of the -m-g • OJ g oar d, v and other members of the Board. It was almost entirely i in he province of the London Board to manage the life business of the ompany, and he thought it his duty on that occasion to express the 10D f and of his colleagues to their friends in London, for i g °° d ma^a gement of the life branch of the Company, and for the g no less than £84,000, which they had contributed to the fnUTT l viu during the year. The Directors last year very g a . hetece the Shareholders the views upon which they should conduct usmess of the Company ; and he might say very safely on behalf of + r ir ® c tors that they would keep the views which had governed them iu e past year steadily before thvem in the year to come. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. 11. LittledaiiE seconded the motion, which was agreed to'unanimously. g l ’’ East, of the London Board, moved the re-election of the Directors. Ho had not coino down from London to bandy compliments with the Directors, but he must say that if ever a body of Directors deserved well of their proprietors, it was the Directors of that Company. They had had gray© and heavy difficulties to contend with. Those difficulties had been fairly overcome, and the Directors had the sincere and honest feeling that they had been well done by, and that the Shareholders had been well done by in a period of great and anxious difficulties. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Geynn seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously. Mr. J. A. Tobin moyed a vote of thanks to the Auditors, Messrs. Kitchen and Boult.

Sii* Charles Nicholson, in seconding the motion, said he must con.- ; gratulate th.e Shareholders and Directors on the very auspicious circumstances under which they now assembled. (Hear, hear.) He had no doubt they had entered on a period of prosperity which would more than compensate them for all the anxiety and care which .they had encountered for the last two or three years. (Hear, hear.) As regarded the motion, ho could bear his most willing testimony to the efficient way in which the; duty assigned to the Auditors had been performed by those gentlemen. (Hear, hear.) The motion was agreed to. Mr. Kitchen, in reply, said he thanked the meeting for the very kind way in which it had acknowledged the services of himself and Mr. Boult. I believe, he said, it is very generally understood by the Shareholders that tlio Auditors do not undertake to do more than compare the accounts presented to the annual meetings with the books, and to certify that; they correspond with the accounts therein; and on reference to the February, 1867, you will find a paragraph to this effect. X may mention,however, I am an old friend to this Company and a large Shareholder, and have at all times felt much interest in its welfare and success. Haying a regard to our position and a lively recollection of the remarks I have heard made in regard to securities, X expressed a desire to our excellent Secretary, Mr Thomson, that I might be pormitted to examine our securities. After one or two conversations in regard to this, I was informed -by Mr Thomson of the Directors’ readiness to acquiesce in my proposal —(hear, hear) —and that I was perfectly at liberty to make any examination I thought needful. My co-Auditor, Mr Peter Boult, had not the requisite time at disposal to : join me in doing so, but I can assure you, my fellow-Shareholders, I have / gone heartily into the matter, and carefully overhauled and examined every . security held at this office and also in London. . I may mention, as regards Liverpool, they are of varied sorts, as specified in our balance-sheet; all in systematic order, and represented in our books at a fair and proper valuation. (Hear, hear, and applause.) "W e have no doubt made advances, but not.of a recent date, on certain securities which some of us consider should never havo been made at all. I, however, feel satisfied, with our past experience, that our Directors, with the aid of our present Secretary, will consider well before entering into similar operations, and you miy rest assured that ample provision has been made for all securities of a doubtful and uncertain character —(hear, hear) —the securities held in London amounting to one million and a half. I have also carefully gone through and examined them all, and find them all in order, and generally of a highly satisfactory character. I have much pleasure in saying that I have received all the aid I could reasonably wish, and every explanation I required from Mr. Thomson and other officials of the Company; and after the opportunity afforded me 1 consider our books, both here and in London, kept admirably. I may also mention our Directors engage the services of professional accountants, Messrs. Stead, Taylor, and Stead, who make a thorough audit of our accounts. ¥e have a weekly or continuous audit at this office of'all cash, and important matters. Mr. Stead visits our .Home Boards twice in each year, and makes a most efficient audit in these places, as well as at. this, office, and the accounts at our Foreign Boards are all well authenticated. My experience, after some thought, induces me further to remark that I consider our accounts should be presented at our annual meetings in a still • more complete form, that the period has arrived when we should make some alteration in the time of holding our annual meetings ; our deed providesthat they should be held in February. This might be, to a certain extent, satisfactory in the early career of our Company, when we had thousands of pounds to deal with ; but now, having figures of such magnitude, amounting, to millions, it is very different; and I consider it utterly impossible to deal, with the accounts satisfactorily, made up to the dates they are and hold our meetings.in February. I therefore respectfully suggest, which I believe, will be cordially endorsed by every Shareholder, that our Directors will take into their early consideration the advisability of adopting the necessary steps to hold our annual meetings in the month of June. This change will be of immense advantage in dealing with the accounts; and the inconvenience to Shareholders (if any) will be trifling, for I presume our 'Directors will, in this case, pay us an interim dividend in the month of January, and the general dividend in July. (Applause.) The Chairman said that on behalf of the Directors he might assure Mr. Kitchen that his proposal, as to which he made no suggestions, would he very carefully considered. (Hear, hear.) 7 . Mr. Kitchen again rose, and said—l have now . a very pleasing duly to perform, which I can discharge on this occasion a with more than ordinary pleasure. It is to propose that our best thanks he given to our worthy . and excellent Chairman and his co-Direcfcors for their valuable services during the past year. (Hear, hear.) I have also further to propose that the sum of £4OOO be placed at the disposal of the Directors, to be distributed amongst themselves in such a manner as. they think fit. I need only remind you that since 1863 we have made no change in the amount (£2100) ' voted to our Directors. In 1863 our fire income was about £500,000 and our reserve £217,000. Now we have a fire income of over £1,100,000 and a reserve of £600,000. Other similar Companies, with a smaller, number of Directors, and whose business is but £f fourth of ours, are now paying a larger amount than we have voted to our Directors during the. last eleven years. I trust, Mr. Chairman, that you and your will not accept this vote as a mere matter of form, but as a sincere expres- - sion of the feeling of the shareholders of this great Company. (A.pplause.)

Mr. 11. Penny seconded the mation. He said that when they looked hack to the state of things which followed the Chicago and Boston catastrophes he thought they had every reason to rejoice that they had not only weathered the storm, but that they had been put in their present position. (Hear, hear.) He saw nothing to. regret in the past; it had induced them to re-organise their foreign business, and they had by that means done more for the benefit of the Shareholders than any precedent he could conceive. (Hear, hear.) It must be borne in mind that the carrying out of those speculations abroad involved an amount of labor on the Board undreamt of half a dozen years ago. (Hear, hear.) He thought the amount proposed by Mr. Kitchen was a very humble one, and he hoped the motion would be passed unanimously. (Hear, hear.) He just wished to mention that in the character of the securities he believed they might claim a comparison with any Company in the world.

A Shareholder. — l think before that motion is put, some explanation > should be given for the existing increase in the expenses of management. (Hear, hear.) I notice that between this year and last year there is an increase something like £43,000. Another Shareholder. —£46,000. s A Shareholder.- —Very well, £46,000, which would be equal to IQ per cent, on the capital. The Chairman said it meant this—that the charge, instead of being, carried to profit and loss, was appointed to life business and fire business. If the charge had been apportioned as before, their balance of £299,000 would have read £340,000. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Solomons said it should be borne in mind that for the last two otf three years the Shareholders had derived no advantages at all from the Company, and he thought it was unreasonable, the moment they turned the . comer, that they should be asked to give the Directors double the amount ; : they had been receiving. The Chairman said the motion had come to him and the Directors unexpectedly. He had not the faintest idea that anything of the kind was to bo done, and he would not have risen to make any observations, only the remarks of Mr. Solomons might derogate from the present position of tfieCompany in the eyes of the world. He must remind Mr. Solomons that , lie-would find that no less than £450,000 had been made for the Share- . holders during the past year, which established the Company in a stronger ; financial position than it was ever in before. (Applause). After some further discussion the resolution was agreed to with only two dissentients. • / Mr. Gilmore proposed a vote of thanks to the members of other Boards for their co-operation and assistance. Mr. Hill seconded the motion, which was agreed to. ) Sir Charles Nicholson replied on behalf of himself and colleague* : ; and took occasion to mention how largely they were indebted to Actuary and Chief Officer in London, Mr Hendricks. « ” - The Chairman next moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Thomson,, tHe .‘V Secretary, and, in doing so, said it would be difficult to do justice to Hib invaluable services. : ' r - - . ~ Mr. Littledale seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously!* : _ *~ r » Mr. Thomson returned thanks, and Mr. m responding*-? hgg mentioned that the life valuation had been made on the same cab&ous'basis 1 - as that of 1869, and that a sum of £194,000 bad, been 5 placed in reserye meet the future bonuses guaranteed to the Policy Etoiabirs. •" * ■ . ■ -