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April 14, i860.] Stipphitieiii to t/ie L...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Ber Of Witnesses Were Examined, Not A Si...
liable in other respects , owing to its limited powers of investment , and to the complete negation it - practically puts on the great mass of Assitrance business , which is at onee excluded from the pale of such an office . When the public funds are at such a price as to give them a decided preference over every other mode of investment , the plan- is equally open to all companies ; but when they are in an unfavourable condition , the poor ' " Consols Association" has no help for it but to sink its premiums in theUnprofitable public debt . It may be compelled to purchase stock above ' par and to pay the claims of its
policyholders in the same stock , when , as it has been within the memory of more than one of its directors , selling at a price under Fifty per Gent , of its original cost ; so that a parent who fondly indulges the hope of leaving his widow and children a policy worth £ 1000 , may have their claim satisfied by a payment of less than £ 500 sterling , - ' while ordinary companies , formed on oldfashioned and tried plans , would be called upon and prepared to pay the whole £ 1000 in cash . Is it , then , likely that prudential persons , wishing to make provisions for their'friends and relatives , ¦ will , if they understand the scheme , intrust their inoiiey to the pi-otection of so uncertain and visionary a project ?
What has happened before may take place again , and not only does the present threatening aspect of the political . affairs of Europe render the contingency of seeing the public funds again as low as in the preceding example possible , but in the opinion of many highly probable . Even within the last few years all of us have seen consols above par as well as 23 per cent , under par , and had this model Association been in existence during that period , whoever surrendered his policy at the adverse juncture of the prices of funds would have received for it no more than £ 17 , although by the scheme itself , having paid in cash , he was fairly entitled to £ 100 . Again , had his life been
assured for JblOOO , and for which he had paid equivalent , consideration .,, the policy . woukl'have yielded , to his estate no more than £ 770 , while all the other Companies , which are held up to the vilest vituperation , would have paid the £ 1000 in full . A more artfully contrived scheme—we have repeatedly 'heard it stated—by which to peril the policy-holder , by compelling him , after the fashion of savings banks and benefit societies , to invest his surplus earnings in the Government funds , has never been contrived ; but although the project was originally propounded by a Government official , and is still extensively paraded under his sanction and supervision , in contravention of regulations by which officers in the Civil Service arc understood
not to connect themselves with trading speculations , we are unwilling to believe that Dr . Farr would wittingly lend himself to any scheme which appeared to hi hi to have this tendency . His fortea \\& experience have never placed him in the position to have practical experience of . financial affairs . Tndccd , his interesting , and in many respects ' valuable , essays in the appendices to the Reports of ' the Kegistrar-Generarrnther exhibit his mental tendencies to be eminently poetical , hypothetical , and speculative ; and to this circumstance may be duo the affection with which lie so fondly cherishes the child to which in a paroxysm of poetical philoprogenitive ecstasy he gave birth , and which has been christened by Mr . Bayl ' is the " Consols Tnsimiiice . Association . "
An able pamphlet recently appeared from the pen of no menu authority , Mr . Buuyon , pointing out the dangers to which one of our oldest and ' the most wealthy Assurance Society is at present exposed , from'having'the great bulk of its funds invested in Government Securities , and showing , that should war ov serious political complications ensue , this Society may be most inconveniently harassed in . its pecuniary affairs , or even unable to meet its engagements . To this danger every " Consol's " scheme of Assurance is in a much greater degree , exposed , with this distinction , —thnt , although the Association may be enabled to legally pay oft ' its claims in Consols when at a depreciated value , the Assured will be the great sufferer , nnd the
Government profit to an equivalent extent . It is a thousand pities that . Dr . Fan , and his protege " , Mr . 3 $ aylis , have not more influence with Mr . Gladstone ) , for if Lord John . Russell could only contrive to keep the English nation sufficiently long in ho ( , water with its neighbours without actually incurring the expenses of war , tho facile Chancellor of the Exchequer would , with thoir aid , soon contrive to pay oK the National Debt , and at ( he same time wind up the AHsoclation , not in Chancery , but by a national nsthnmtieal ( license , not iiriwiivg from deranged conditions of the fnnqtions of tho Association , but from n state of things for which the elaborate uosological system of the learned Doctor linn not tceliuologicnlly provided 5 namely , as tlu ' ru ia no longer a Gonsol atmosphere for tho Association to breathe , it- must die , as effectually as if orammod into tho blaek holo of Calcutta . Wo have hitherto assumed that any such Association lias its
dealings with those only who , on then- individual responsibility , make prudential and family provisions ; bill no Company could at the present time support itself on the .-ahare ' .. of such tra . risnctioris falling to its lot . -Two-thirds of the policies effected arc on behalf of third parties acting as trustees under settlements , or which are . subsequently / assigned for such -purpose ? ,-or-made to cover debts , or : to form collateral -securities . in some shape or other . It is obvious that , ( -it-l 1 e 1-. as-trU 5 t . ee . or . solicitor , no . ban ? person could ever recommend or adopt a . system which iuvolve-5 ¦ the payment ' -of sterling money as premium , to receive . ; it sonic time Or other a ilucU-iating sum , which , by all past experience , may be equivalent to the value of the amount of money lie . has contributed , or it may be only two-thirds or ¦ ono-luilf that value . Any one who is placed under such circumstance ,- , and receives a policy granted on the " Consols . " scheme , constitute . ' ? -himself a speculator in the ¦ public funds , is legally ; i piiiib'ler under his trust or to his elieut , as the ease may . be , and . is responsible for whatever loss may be incurred . Is it then likely that the large field of-business embraced , in this class of Assurance , transactions euii be ever open to the competition of . any . " -Consols scheme of insurance , " and that such an adventure , could cVrr realize the results which . the inflated panegyrist of the pamphlet promises-for it ? . . .--. ' . Had the Author- ' assumed a more modest tone , and exhibited greater deference-to other ' .-institutions , we should have : been disposed to look Avith much complacency on the movements of his favourite project ; but having regard to . the ' hostile attitude , in which he : . lias-plated lunif-cTf with other Companies , he cannot complainshould we apply , in conclusion , one or two simple tests to try the good faith- of ' the- " Consols Insurance Association , " and these nre , the amount of guarantee or proprietary capital . with : which ' -it starts the / project , and by which only ean . the policyholders and the public be protected in the early yours of its ; experiment ; and also the .-competency of the . principal ' officers , . ' or those more immediately intrusted withthe : practical details of its affairs . "We cannot find ihiii ' the p ; unp , lik-t makes usiy inc . ii . tfo . ii of two Companies of undoubtedly high reputation and unrivalled success , namely , the " British , Foreign , and Colonial , " and the " Uritish Exchequer , " It is not easy ' to account at first siglitfor so remarkable an oversight ; but the author is , perhaps , like liiauv other fallen mortals , guilty of as ninny sins of omission as of commission ; ' anil-after a-little troublesome research , we have discovered that the pair have been :. . conjugally concerned in giving birth , whether legitimately or illegil iinately we need not stop to inquire , In the " Consols Insurance , " and that : the family fortunes are so closely interwoven , that , . they three must sink or swim ' together , unless their prolific , propensities should create , in proper time , some saving genius , a , s has . been the good fortunr : of even a Hovnl pnrri'iiu , and restore for a time its rclal and its credit . Independently of the shiiivs . set apart to ' the proprietors of the two original Companies , ' and for which no cash payment was of course ever mtule to the rollers of their progeny , the " -Consols Insurance Association , " we should have liked the author of the pamphlet to have informed us how ninny i ) e \ v shares have been subscribed in favour of the ' new-born child , how much money has been actually paid in respect Io such shares , and whether imic-. lialf of the " said paid-up ' capital has . been actually-invested in Consols ? In the ordiiuiry eomsse of ( liings , we should ,. ns a matter of courtesy , wait for the first . Annual 'Meeting of the Association before asking any such questions ; but , seeing the . author is so zealous an advocate of publicity iis ( . <> _ even seem anxious thnt Companies should anticipate , ' the wishes of the public , and become prophetic in their disclosures of inforninl ion I ' m the general good , it is only reasonable to expect that , one , who exacts so much from others , should throw , at le .-N , a faint gleam of light on his pet bantling . Would it be siife to make an even venture that , the ih'dt balance sheet , should it , ever meet the public eye , will n \\ n \\ u paid up capital n ( . tho present , time of us much as £ 5000 ? And what nro the < hUU to be sulul . y given that no portion of it is nf present iuvostud in Consols V Tho provincial newspapers hnve , from time to time , testified to the strenuous exertions mudo by tin ; Executive of the Asaociiitloii to ingratiate the . scheme in tin- estimnlion of the people , iu tin , larger cities and towns of the kingdom ; and it , is wiuewlmt disappointing to find that , although the promoters , have all iilou ^ been allowed to blow tlioir <>\\ 11 trumpet , sounding their own praisefs , Hint the publif him fit Mill ' 1 rcspoiided to tin- cull . It 1 * ( liHiressing to think thni in 11 eountry where Baruuni luul boen BignaMv HiiceeHf ) ful , " a sehcine so inviting nn 1 lint <>( " CoiihoIh . Insuvaiu ^ " hIiouIiI , from ith undoubted novelty . moI . Uny r . rm-itflil ; more euHtoinern . . I ' erhnp . s it limy lie aecounled lor In its < li « tortionfl l > citi < v greater , but il « nbortioiiiil diiiieiihioiirt so iiiueh lesfj than itrj lon'jjoinjr wonder , General ' J ' oin 'riiunil ) , an lo foil to
April 14, I860.] Stipphitieiii To T/Ie L...
April 14 , i 860 . ] Stipphitieiii to t / ie Leader and 3
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/sldr_14041860/page/3/
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