"A DAY AT LLOYD'S"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22328, 31 July 1934, Page 13

"A DAY AT LLOYD'S"

ADDRESS BY MR E WOOD At the business men's dinner, held last night in the Tudor Hall, Mr E. Wood, secretary of the Otago Importers and Shippers' Association, gave an interesting address on "A Day at Lloyd's," dealing in detail with the activities of the great marine insurance organisation in London. The speaker was introduced by the chairman, Mr J. G. H. Sdmerville, who said that Mr Wood was particularly well qualified to speak on the subject of marine insurance as he 'had had" 46 years of experience in England, Australia, and New Zealand, . ' - : Mr Wood commenced with the remark that the v;ast' organisation of .marine ■commerce would be impossible, without the system .of insurance,. and that when one thought of marine insurance* one thought, jalmost immediately, of- Lloyd's. He then outlined the history of this business, commencing with the daye of the merchant adventurer in the.sixteentb century when, besides the-perils of. rocks, seas, and winds, the shipping had of ten to run the gauntlet of' pirates, and was compelled by various petty rules to pay substantial tribute. Such a business was a very hazardous .one,,and though the wards were often large, only men of wellestablished position, could venture into it. The plight which might befall one of these men was, incidentally, illustrated by Shakespeare's play,' "The Merchant of Venice." Towards the. close of the sixteenth century -a party of merchants : from Lombardy, in Northern ■ Italy, settled in London on. the. region -where Lombard street 'now runs/, and. it .was these men who ; first-began--to undertake insurances. ... A coffee house owned by Edward Lloyd" formed. a., convenient meeting place, and from this accidental circumstance developed the great organisation of Lloyd's, for the. coffee house proprietor was a very shrewd man who realised the possibilities which lay hi" these meetings. The speaker traced the-rise of the house of Lloyd's until the opening, in 1928,' of the magnificent new London business, premises which occupied the historic site, of the. old East India House;...,' . ! .'' . . ~ . .He then; proceeded, to describe in detail each step in the ""business" of issuing' .a typical insurance, • taking as an example the insuring of.'a ship which-he himself had conducted. An interesting feature was that, in. many ways, business at Lloyd a was conducted:'as. it had been 150 years ago, the very wording- of the policies issued -being'practic'ally:unchanged; the exigencies of later'alterations in the class, of shipping and the range of cargoes being met by the addition of Institute Clauses which were constantly beisg revised. ._ The speaker next dealt -with the variety of business done by the underwriters, giving instances which threw an interesting light on the history of past epochs. He pointed out the value, of marine insurances to everyone who* shipped goods. The stake was not only the value of the goods as, in the eyes of the law) the consignment of cargo made a busiriess man a "'joint adventurer" in that voyage and, should it' happen that the vessel went aground or had, for somecause, to be one was responsible for a proportion, of the expense entailed in the subsequent endeavours to get the .vessel back to port. Such operations could easily involve con- . siderable sums of money. In conclusion he read the speech made by his Majesty the King on the occasion of the opening of the new Lloyd's premises in 1928 in which reference, was made to the manner in winch Lloyd's had conducted business for a very long period, always. maintaining worthily the tradition of British justice., Interesting exhibits produced to illustrate the remarks included a photograph, of the underwriting'room at Lloyd's, facsimiles of early copies of Lloyd's Shipping Journal, a facsimile of the historic " slip containing details of the insuring of the Titanic, an actual policy, and, in lighter vein, a Bateman cartoon. Mr V. Jacobs proposed a vote of thanks to the speaker and* this' was carried by acclamation. *'.' •" <■•