BICENTENARY OF ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160692, 3 July 1920, Page 7

BICENTENARY OF ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE

“TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENT SHALL CO?,IE, GREETING.” With these words the existence of the Royal Exchange Assurance, as such, literally began. They stand, a gracious salutation, at the head ■of the deed of indenture given under the Great Seal of Great Britain by George the First, of England, and herald the birth, as a corporate body, of the Royal Exchange Assurance. They are the inaugural words of a Royal 'Charter, dated and granted the 22nd Juno, 1720.

The passing of time brings the world this year, in Christian reckoning, to A.D. 1920—it likewise brings the, corporation to its second centennial year. The Royal Exchange Assurance will then be two hundred years old! A goodly age. The chief interest of a bicentenary is to bo sought in the event which it commemorates, but when the result which ensued from that event is still in evidence, multiplied manifold and grown beyond all dreams of the originators, then the history of its development and expansion acquires an interest equal to that of the primary event itself. The event in the present ease, was the granting of the Charter—the result is the Royal Exchange Assurance as it is known to-day, with its tradition of 20(1 years of business well and honourably conducted, and its unimpeachable position as a premier Insurance Office, ancient in its years—modern in its methods. IN 1720. There were no railways, nor omnibuses. nor oven singe coaches. Steamships were unknown, and war vessels were built of heart of oak. There were no telegraphs, no cables, no telephones, and the General Post Office had only just been opened with a very elementary service. There were no canals in Great Britain, and the roads were quite unsuited to vehicular traffic. Gas as an illnminant for public use had not been invented, and in London streets were undrained, there were no house pipes or gutters, and dustmen and scavengers were unknown. Old London Bridge, built in the time of William Rufus, still spanned Hie Thames.

Mechanically driven machinery was nowhere in use. There was no such thing as income tax; iho calendar still followed the Julian year, as in Russia to-day, and umbrellas had never been seen in England. British possessions outside of Europe consisted of certain lands in the Americas—including Newfoundland, our oldest colony—and two small company settlements in Africa ; in ail some two and a quarter million square miles. To-day the Dominions of the British Empire comprise an area of IJ million square miles. It was nearly forty years after 1720 before the foundations of our Indian Empire wore begun, and seventy years had passed ere the first of the Australasian settlements was made. The acquisition of the greater pact of our African Dominions is modern history. The progress of the corporation in all branches of its business during the past 20 years has been marvellous,'and to-day its business connections touch all parts of the world, including the islands of the South Sea. The, New Zealand branch is conducted in and controlled from Wellington, while branches and agencies are established in ail parts of the Dominion. A board of directors is appointed, and resides in ‘Wellington, and consists of Messrs William Brown, George Wilson, and Alexander Macintosh, Mr Osmond R. Benda 11 being the general manager for New Zealand. The presence of this institution in this Dominion has been, and still is, of advantage to New Zealand. The Corporation not only transacts all classes of insurance business, hut has also large investments in prone rty and advances on mortgage. Local Agents—M. Russell, Limited. *