NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1751, 13 August 1874, Page 3

NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY.

An extraordinary meeting of the National Insurance Company wan recently held in Dunedin, for the purpose of making certain necessary alterations mi the articles of association. Mr. E. B. Car-; gill, who occupied the .chair, explained that the-alterations were of ;no great im-; portance, but a, new articlc^as proposed to be added, which was of the utmost importance. rHe explained, that it was .to tHe bffecf, '*' that/from'and\after;a certain , day, to be named at the said meeting, no perso v n ; !pr persons shall individually» join%',-or ixi common, hold more than l,sOO"shariS; without prejudice, however, to the right of any shareholder or shareholders to retain all the shares of which he, she 1, or they shall have become the registered holders up to the day to be so aimed as for aforesaid." He presumed that the reason which had led the directors to propose to add this article was pretty apparent to the shareholders. The essence of the stability of a company such as theirs depended upon its shares being as widely. distributed as possible. It was ; desirable that the shares should not be held by a few individuals, but that they should be distributed among a largo number of persons. It would be seen from tho consti^ution-of:the. company that the actual liability was great in comparison to the rampuut paid; up on every sha^re. The shares 'were nominally) pf the-ya'ue of;\£K) i but t|ie to! al amount subscribed on them was 10s ; thus leaving £9 JOs to , be called up, should it be found necessary to do so. Considering the responsibility attached to a large number of shares, it was necessary, that too many .should not be allotted to the same person. There; was. another view to be taken of the matter, namely, that it was desirable that as large a number of persons as possible should interest themselves in the company, the success of which throughout the colony arid province would be proportionately diminished according to the large number of shares held by individual shareholders. A large accumulation of shares in the hands of a few would have the effect of deterring people from having anything to do with the shares.' The directors were strongly impressed that the preposed alterations.wouldbeto the advantage of th.3 corojnny, and tend to maintain its popular character on a wide basis.' They now recommend the shareholders to pass the additional article of association. Any one who at present"held 1,500 shares was liable for £15,000, which he thought was sufficient li ability for any particular shareholder. Under these circumstances, the directors recommended the passing of the additional article of association. After some discussion, the proposal was adopted.