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as the "Specific Compensation Class." The advantage claimed for this plan over the ordinary system of Accident Ins. is that the amount of compensation for any particular injury is fixed from the time of taking out the policy. Here is the scale in relation to a 1000 policy-that is, if the ins. desire to protect his family to the extent of £1000 in case of his death by accident, he protects himself by becoming entitled to the following scale of compensation in respect of any of the non-fatal injuries enumerated; with a general allowance in case of being entirely disabled by any accidental injury not included in this schedule.

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NOTE.-1 for every day (except Sundays) beyond a week up to 100 days, whilst confined to bed by order of any duly registered practitioner, for injuries not included in the above table.

Now one of the most remarkable features about this scheme is its wonderful resemblance to that of 1665. We are, however, in a position to affirm that the existence of the first was not known when the second was compiled. The scheme was devised with a view to lessen some of the defects which attach to the bus. under the ordinary method. If this plan of insuring were adopted generally by the accident offices, a very large proportion of the fraudulent claims they now sustain would be at once got rid of.

In the same year (1866) the Imperial Union Ins. Co. was founded, having an Accident Ins. branch. It made no prominent feature of the bus. until it took over the accident branch of the International Life in 1868.

About this period the bus. of accident Ins. was introduced, by special desire of the Emperor Napoleon, into France. The plan there adopted was that of collective Ins.the insuring bodies of workmen en masse. The Co. undertaking the bus. was the Sécurité Générale. Its two first balance sheets showed, as was to be expected, very serious losses. In Germany a small accident bus. has been carried on by the Thuringia Co., but the bus. has never been thoroughly taken up there.

In 1867 the Colonial Assu. Corp. was founded, and it inaugurated here, and still carries on with success, the system of Life and Accident Ins. combined: a plan of ins. possessing so many advantages, that it is destined sooner or later to occupy a more prominent position. The add. to the life rate is very small; the advantages to the insured very considerable.

In 1868 the General Accident and Guarantee Co. was founded. Its special feature was the charging a reduced rate-that is, placing in a more favourable classification Architects, Building Surveyors, and Civil Engineers, as compared with other Accident offices. The Co. was one of great respectability; and in 1870 it became united with the Accident Co. The founders of this Co. originated the idea of allocating some portion of the profits to the pol.-holders, as in L. Ins.

In the same year the Home Ins. Asso. was founded; and it was one of its features to grant collective Ins. against accidents to bodies of workmen: a class of bus. which all former experience had shown to be most undesirable in the light of realizing any profit.

In 1869 was founded the London Guarantee and Accident Co. There was no very special feature in its accident branch, except that its classification was very liberal to the insured. This, of course, can and will be remedied by future experience.

In the same year there was founded the Sovereign Accident Co. The scheme of this office-which was but an off-shoot of the General Accident and Guarantee-was that of granting as much benefit to each class of persons ins. as 1 (this is one sovereign) would pay for, viz., £300 in case of death, and 2 p. week in case of non-fatal injury.

In 1870 were founded several Accident Ins. offices, viz., I. City Accident Co., which

immediately on its birth became associated with the Accident Co. (No. 1) and the General Accident Co., constituting that happy tria junta in uno-the Accident Ins. Co. (No. 2). 2. The Commercial Accident Co., which announces a very special feature, viz., That the profits will be ascertained at the end of every year, "and a bon. equivalent to one half the net profit (after deduction for reserve fund) allowed on the prem. for the ensuing year upon all pol. that have not been claimed upon during the year." We think every 3 or 5 years would have been quite often enough to ascertain and distribute the profits on a small accident bus.

3. The Carriage Accident Co.-This we shall speak of specially under its own head. In Fr. both horses and carriages are ins. against accident; and the bus. appears a most legitimate one: due precaution being taken against imposition. We have now, we believe for the first time, traced the hist. have given more details would have occupied too much space. present itself not only in the histories of the individual offices, Ins. of Mariners' lives, war risks, etc.

of ACCIDENT Ins. To The subject will again but in reference to the

In the practical working of this bus., there are difficulties to be encountered which do not present themselves in most other branches of Ins. In Life Ins. the claimant must be proved to be dead before a claim is paid; and in reference to fatal accidents, of course the same rule prevails. In Fire Ins. there must have been a fire, and there must therefore be some visible evidence of loss. In reference to non-fatal injuries, frequently no such means of proof are at hand. In the case of broken limbs there is direct evidence. In the case of scalds and burns, it is well known that they have been personally inflicted for the sake of creating claims. In the case of sprains and invisible injuries, whether the claimant can't work or won't work, remains occasionally a mystery. The practical experience of a well trained staff, and above all a sagacious, able, experienced medical adviser, are of the first essentials in the conduct of so special a business.

It may be said that about 1 out of every 12 persons insured makes a claim; and that to every fatal claim, there are at least 100 non-fatal injuries. Somewhere about the same proportions obtain in the U.S.

In the course of twenty years experience, many points of practice have become settled; some of them through the medium of the law courts; although there has been surprisingly little litigation when the nature of the bus. is considered. It has, for instance, been decided by the Courts that Sunstroke is not a cause of death within the scope of Accident Ins. This was decided in the case of Sinclair v. Maritime Passengers Co. That a person ins. under a non-hazardous, but intending immediately afterwards to assume a hazardous occupation, would be guilty of fraud (Bunyon). That notice of death must be given to the Co. within the time stipulated in the policy. This was settled in Gamble v. Accident Co. before the Irish Courts in 1869. That Erysipelas following a slight injury is not a direct consequence of the accident, and therefore not covered by an accident policy. This was decided in the Exchequer Chamber in the case of Smith v. Accident Co. in 1870. And that death from inherent disease, although accelerated by accident, is not within the meaning of an Accident Ins. This was decided in the case of Cross v. Railway Passengers Co. before Baron Bramwell and a special jury in July, 1871. ACCIDENT INS.: Stamp duties on pol. When the Accidental Death Co. was about to commence bus. in 1850, its officers applied to the Stamp Office authorities to know what stamp should be affixed to the pol. The reply was: "Same as on life pol." This was simply absurd. On a £1,000 pol. against Railway accidents, for which the Co. charged IOS. prem., the stamp duty would be £3. The result was that for several years the Co. issued unstamped pol., with the full knowledge of the stamp authorities. Duty has since been levied as follows:

1853. By 16 & 17 Vict. c. 59-6d. for every £50 ins. where the whole sum does not exceed £500; Is. for each £100 where sum ins. did not exceed £1,000; and 105. p. £1,000 or part thereof beyond. Thus a £1,000 pol. required a 10s. stamp.

1860. By 23 & 24 Vict. c. III, a special scale of stamps was imposed upon Accident, Plate Glass, Hail Ins., etc. pol. as follows: Where prem. did not exceed 2s. 6d., stamp Id.; exceeding 2s. 6d. and not exceeding 5s., stamp 34.; and 3d. add. for each 5s. or fractional part thereof. This was a very great improvement. 1865. By 28 & 29 Vict. c. 96, this scale was re-enacted.

1870. By 33 & 34 Vict. c. 97, "for any payment agreed to be made upon the death of any person, only from accident, or violence, or otherwise than from a natural cause, or as compensation for personal injury," etc., the stamp on the pol. was reduced to one penny.

ACCIDENT INS. CO. LIM. (No. 1).-This Co. was founded in 1866, with an authorized cap. of £50,000, in shares of £2. It was formed to take over the business of the Accidental Death Co. (No. 2), and rapidly rose to a successful position. In 1867 it took over the Accident bus. of the Birmingham Alliance Life, which was small, but respectable. In 1868 it organized a system of Specific Compensation Ins., which we have spoken of in our HIST. OF ACCIDENT INS. In 1870 it was reorganized, and became Accident Ins. Co. (No. 2), which see. In rather more than three years, the shareholders received back in dividends and bonuses more than the entire paid-up capital of the Co.

ACCIDENT INS. Co. LIM. (No. 2).—This Co. was founded in 1870, with an authorized cap. of £50,000, in shares of £1. It is in fact a reorganization of Accident Co. (No. 1), consequent on its union with the General Accident and Guarantee Co. and the City Accident Co. Its bus. is sound, and its progress in every way satisfactory. It took over such of the policies of the several offices united with Accidental Death Co. (No. 2) as remained in force at that date. Policy-holders are entitled to participate in the profits on the following plan: a red. of prem. at the end of five years on all policies under which the ins. shall have made no claim during that period, "such reduction to be consistent with the surplus profit of the Co. made at the end of every quinquennial period dating from Ist January, 1870."

ACCIDENT RECORD.-A circular or newspaper under this title was pub. quarterly by the Accident Ins. Co. during the years 1868-9, and excited a good deal of interest. It was circulated chiefly among the agents of the Co.

ACCIDENTAL DEATH INDEMNITY INS. Co.-A Co. under this title was projected in 1849, Mr. George Sands Sidney being the promoter. Its objects were fully accomplished by the Accidental Death Co. projected the same year. ACCIDENTAL DEATH INS. Co. (No. 1), founded in Lond. in 1850, with an authorized cap. of 100,000, in shares of £20. It had been prov. regis. in 1849, under the title of the Accidental Death Indemnity Asso.; but on the 24th Jan. 1850, took the title by which it afterwards became so widely known. Its first scheme was to insure against death from all accidental causes; but in a few months it matured a system of insuring against nonfatal injuries arising from accidents, and so it became the founder of the modern bus. of Accident Ins. We have given some details of this period under head of ACCIDENT Ins., HIST. OF.

In 1852 the Co. took over the business of the Railway Assu. Co. which had been regis. as early as 1848; and the arrangement was carried out under the authority of a special Act of Parl., 15 & 16 Vict. c. lvi., "An Act for amal. Railway Ins. Co. with Accidental Death Co., and enabling the amalgamated Co. to insure against death or other personal injury." Hence the Co. obtained parliamentary powers at a very early date.

The progress of the bus. was during the first few years very slow, but that turned out to be mainly in consequence of the Co. having addressed itself to the manufacturing and industrious classes instead of to the professional and mercantile classes. After a few years the mistake was remedied, and the bus. progressed in a satisfactory manner until misfortune of another class overtook it, and it became the victim to a series of frauds already spoken of in the general Hist. of Accident Ins.

The result was that the Directors grew alarmed, and in 1857 entered into an agreement to trans. the bus. to the Travellers and Marine Ins. Co., which had been founded in 1854. This arrangement was sanctioned by Parl. 22 Vict. c. xxii. See Travellers and Marine. The shareholders received back all their capital, with a bonus of 25 p.c.; and with this satisfactory result the affairs of the pioneer Accident Ins. Co. were closed.

The special act of 1859, 22 Vict. c xxii., was intituled: "Act for dissolving the Accidental Death Co., and trans. the business to the Travellers and Marine Ins. Co., to be thereafter called the Accidental Death Ins. Co."

ACCIDENTAL DEATH INS. Co. (No. 2).—This Co. was founded in Lond. in 1854, under the title of the Travellers and Marine Ins. Co., with an authorized cap. of £100,000 (afterwards increased to £250,000), in shares of £5. It introduced some modifications into the bus. of Accident Ins. which we have noted in our general hist. In 1857 the Travellers took over the bus. of the Accidental Death (No. 1); and in 1859 obtained the authority of a special act, 22 Vict. c. xxii. : "An Act for dissolving the Accidental Death Co. (No. 1), and trans. the bus. to the Travellers and Marine, to be thereafter called the Accidental Death Ins. Co." The fact was, the Directors had discovered the mistake of discontinuing the original name, and had to go to Parl. to get the necessary authority to resume it. Hence the title of Accidental Death Co. (No. 2).

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The Co. between 1857 and 1859 had absorbed the businesses of the following offices: Maritime Passengers founded 1851 General Accident Compensation founded 1855 Marine and General Travellers 1854 Times and State (accident depart.) 1851 The income of the Co. was now considerable, and occasion was taken to investigate the results of the bus. Various changes were made, all of which have been referred to. In 1859 the business was on a sound basis; and had up to that date been confined to accident bus. pure and simple. The Maritime Passengers, which it had absorbed, had a department for insuring the baggage of passengers, and the effects of captains and mariners from loss by marine casualty. This, in an evil day, led the Directors into the idea of extending the bus. to ordinary Marine Ins. The cap. was increased to £250,000, and underwriting was commenced. Never was a greater mistake. The two businesses have no sort of analogy—or only this that they are each made the vehicle of considerable frauds: marine ins. more especially. The result may be soon told. The profits of the accident portion of the bus. were absorbed by the marine; and the cap. was also being steadily trenched upon. The Directors were advised to enlarge the marine bus. This they did in 1865, by a union with the Accidental Marine Ins. Corp. founded in that year. This union continued until October, 1866, when the last-named Co. passed into liquida

tion; and the Accidental Death Co. (No. 2) again resumed control of the bus.—that is, the accident portion of the bus. But the Co. was not in a position to carry on the same successfully. Hence the Accident Ins. Co. (No. 1) was founded; and the affairs of this Co. passed into liquidation in the early part of 1868. The accident policy-holders were fully protected throughout these changes. ACCIDENTAL INJURY AND DEATH ASSU. Co.-A Co. under this title was projected in 1850 by Mr. Wm. Campbell Sleigh, Barrister-at-Law, but its objects had already been accomplished by then existing Cos. It did not proceed.

ACCIDENTAL AND MARINE INS. CORP. LIM., founded in Lond. in 1865, with an authorized cap of £1,000,000, in 40,000 shares of £25 (of which a portion only were subscribed), for the purpose of taking over the bus. of the Accidental Death (No. 2) and extending the operations of the Marine Ins. department. The Co. continued in bus. little more than twelve months, during which period it lost the whole of its paid-up cap., incurring liabilities which absorbed the whole of the subscribed cap., over £300,000, and left a considerable amount of liability unpaid. That the losses were occasioned by an almost systematic series of frauds cannot be doubted. But in this the Co. only shared the too general fate of young Marine Ins. offices. The Co. passed into liq. in Oct., 1866, the accident portion of the bus. being resumed by the Co. from whom it was originally taken. ACCLIMATIZED LIVES.-These are lives which, from long residence in climates supposed, or known, to be prejudicial to human life, have become in a measure proof against the deleterious influences there prevailing. Life offices take this circumstance into account in fixing rates of prem. for residents abroad; and especially make a distinction between such acclimatized persons, and others going for the first time to reside in such places. [FOREIGN RESIDENCE.]

ACCOMENDA, a contract whereby a person entrusts property to the master of a vessel to be sold for their joint profit. It is a term orig. in Italian mercantile law. The venture bears analogy to what is known here as "captain's venture."

ACCOMMODATED RATIOS.-This was a term applied to Life Ins. calculations by the late Mr. B. Gompertz. He prepared Tables intended to expedite the operations required for assuming the number of persons living at equal intervals of successive ages to be in geometrical progression, and the periods taken sufficiently short to permit this assumption to be a near approximation to the truth. See Mr. Gompertz's paper, Phil. Trans. 1825. ACCOUNTS OF LIFE OFFICES.-When the practice of pub. annual accounts first commenced we cannot precisely determine. Sir Fred. Eden in 1806, contrasting partnership Ins. Asso. with Trading Corporations, says the former might as easily as the latter show the soundness of their position, by (inter alia) pub. an annual account of their receipts and payments-"though it is believed no office in Gt. Brit. does so." This statement was made by one of the best informed writers of that period. In 1826 Mr. Babbage recommended Life offices to pub. their accounts. In 1841 there was some agitation upon the subject. The Joint Stock Regis. Act, 1844, did require all Cos. regis. under it to make returns-other offices escaped. The Parl. Com. on Assu. Asso., 1853, took evidence upon the subject. [LIFE INS., HIST. OF. Since then the subject has constantly engaged attention. At length came the Life Assu. Cos. Act, 1870, the 33 & 34 Vict. c. 61, which contains the following requirements :

SEC. 5.-Every Co. shall at the expiration of each financial year of such Co. prepare a statement of its revenue account for such year, and of its bal. sheet at the close of such year, in the forms respectively contained in the First and Second Schedules to this Act.

To prevent any misapprehension, we give these schedules entire as follows:

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NOTE 1-Companies having separate accounts for annuities to return the particulars of their annuity business in a separate statement.

NOTE 2.-Items in this and in the accounts in the Third and Fifth Schedules should be the net amounts after deduction of the amounts paid and received in respect of re-assurances.

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• NOTE.-These items are included in the corresponding items in the First Schedule.
Sec. 6 of the same measure enacts the following:-

£

18

£ s. d.

Every Co. which, concurrently with the granting of policies of assurance or annuities on human life, transacts any other kind of assurance or other business, shall, at the expiration of each such financial year as aforesaid, prepare statements of its revenue account for such year, and of its balance-sheet at the close of such year, in the forms respectively contained in the Third and Fourth Schedules of this Act. These forms are as follows: we give them in extenso, for the purpose of future reference, and with a view to avoid mistakes.

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