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which he may be entitled in consequence of the surrender of his pol. to the office. 4. Where pol.holders are resident abroad, the office will sell for him the stock to which he may be entitled, and remit to him the proceeds, less the necessary expenses, if he so desire it.

The annexed T. gives examples of the ann. prems. for non-par. life and accident pol. combined:

The parti. scale is something higher.

The Co. was founded by

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Pol. £100.

Pol £250.

Pol. £500. Pol. £1000.

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the present writer. Its Gen. Manager is Mr. Philip Sayle; its Actuary Mr. E. Justican. COLONIAL FIRE INSURANCES.-In 1810, by 50 Geo. III. c. 35, permission was given to any person resident in Gt. Britain to insure houses and property in any of the Islands, Settlements, and Territories of His Majesty, including the West Indies and elsewhere beyond the seas, against loss by fire, without any license. But the stamp and per-centage duties payable were to be the same as in England. Ins. of foreign property, as distinguished from colonial, was exempt from per-centage duty, but liable to stamp duty on pol. This is the first mention made in our statutes of Ins. in the Colonies; although we presume such ins. had long been effected.

In 1815, by 55 Geo. III. c. 184, the stamp on colonial policies was increased to 2s. 6d.; and the per-centage duty to 5s. per 100 ins. This per-centage duty was just twice the amount then payable on home ins. Whatever the intention of the measure may have been, its effect was to encourage the founding of F. ins. offices in the colonies. [FIRE INS., DUTY ON.] COLONIAL, FOREIGN, AND GENERAL ASSU. Co. FOR FIRE, LIFE, and Marine.-A Co. under this title was projected in 1845 by Mr. Peter Lund Simmonds, who was to be its Man. Director. The proposed cap. was £1,000,000, in 40,000 shares of £25. The preliminary prospectus said:

Our vast and widely-extended colonial possessions, daily becoming more and more densely populated by emigrants, are for the most part shut out from the benefit of assu., where such a provision is essentially requisite for the safety of the stock, and the protection of families, frequently left unprovided for, in a strange land, by the death of friends or relatives.

The Colonies have from time to time enjoyed the benefit of banks, railroad cos., etc., etc., but as yet have possessed only in a very limited and imperfect degree any provident inst. adapted to ins. for F. and L. Some few of our older-settled colonies have their local assu. offices, conducted for the most part on the mut. principle; but from their being estab. on a very limited basis, with circumscribed cap. and small experience, any great calamity, such as an extensive fire or a sickly season, usually entails ruin on the office.

One or two Lond. offices, with small cap., have recently estab. a few agencies in Canada, India, and Australia; but they have founded their rates of prem. upon the returns of mort. among the Brit. and Indian troops on foreign service-a very unsatisfactory source of computation as regards civilians and colonists generally, whose habits and occupations are essentially different. These offices resorted doubtless to such imperfect and defective sources of calculation, because no others were within their reach; but from a careful investigation at the Colonial Office of voluminous returns of the progress of pop., and others, procured with great labour from local agents, of the deaths in each colony for a series of years, as furnished by the parish regis., by consulting the best authorities as to climate, and making due allowance for the progressive improvement effected by drainage, extended cultivation, etc., tables of mort. have been framed for each of our four distant dependencies, and the decrement of human life so precisely ascertained, that much lower rates can be taken with safety than have heretofore been charged.

The dwellings, warehouses, and buildings in the Colonies are for the most part constructed of less substantial materials than those in the older countries; and the stores are generally stocked with valuable goods: yet no means of indemnification are at present afforded to owners of property of this kind against the ravage of fire. The present difficulty and expense of effecting ins. undoubtedly deter many from availing themselves of the means of protection, who would otherwise gladly do so.

In 1846 the Co. was founded under the title of the Colonial and General. Mr. Simmonds became its Man.; Mr. Colin T. Campbell was the Sec. In 1847 the bus. and connexions of the Co. were transferred to the Standard.

COLONIAL LIFE ASSU. Co., founded in Edinburgh in 1846, with a cap. of £500,000, in 10,000 shares of £50 [afterwards increased to £1,000,000, in shares of same denomination]. The estab. of this Co. forms an epoch in the hist. of Life Ins. On this point we shall speak more particularly under FOREIGN RESIDENCE. The founder of the Co. was Mr. W. T. Thomson, whose name is known wherever the blessings of L. ins. have become understood; and he has placed on record some account of the circumstances which led to its estab.

66

In 1845, during the progress of an investigation of the affairs of the Standard L., it appeared clear to its Act. [Mr. Thomson], that the extra rates demanded by offices in general for foreign residence were very much beyond what was requisite to protect them from the extra risk incurred; and that the terms and conditions of assu. were not suited to such transactions-keeping in view more particularly the increased facilities afforded

for travelling abroad, and the constant inducements to foreign residence, arising from the pursuit of bus. or pleasure." This conviction became more settled the further the subject was pursued; and it was resolved to institute an inquiry as to the possibility of procuring sound data on which to found more correct rates for foreign residence.

This inquiry was entered upon by Mr. Thomson. He brought together all accessible information as to the value of life in Brit. N. America, the West Indies, East Indies, Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and other places abroad. His report embraced not merely statistical facts and figures, but the opinion of the most eminent medical men in those countries was sought and obtained. Many of these gentlemen had spent the greater part of their lives in the particular climates under consideration. The result of a consideration of the able report of Mr. Thomson was a resolution to found the Colonial; and steps were taken to that end early in the following year. [The name orig. proposed for the Co was the Colonial Standard; and every shareholder in the Standard was allowed to subs. for one share in the new Co. in respect of each five held in the Standard.]

The "Contract of Copartnery" was dated 14th Oct., 1846, and set forth that the Co. was estab. for the purposes following, or any of them :-To make or effect assu. on the lives of parties proceeding or having the intention of proceeding to or remaining in India, or the Colonies, or to other places beyond Gt. Brit. and Ireland, and on the lives of military or naval officers or seafaring persons, or on the lives of persons residing in Gt. Brit., but in connexion with whose lives any special contract should be entered into with reference to residence abroad; and to grant and sell annu., either for lives or otherwise, and on survivorship; and to purchase annu.; to grant endow. for children and other persons; and to receive investments of money for accumulation; to purchase contingent rights, whether of rev. remainder, annu., life pol., or otherwise; and generally to enter into any transaction depending upon the contingency of life, and all other transactions in use to be entered into by L. assu. cos., including re-insurance. The orig. prosp. said: The practice of L. ins. in any country indicates a state of society where high moral feeling and commercial confidence exist; and its progress in Gt. Brit. is a marked feature in the national character. In England, L. assu. has become a general practice, an understood duty, and an essential portion of every monetary contract. Want of statistical information as to the value of human life has no doubt retarded the adoption of the system in many countries where its aid or protection would be eagerly sought, if well-founded inst. were provided for its practice: but the time has now arrived when increased knowledge enables its benefits to be extended with safety to many other parts of the world, where hitherto it has been unknown, or at least unpractised, except under great disadvantages, by a distant and tardy correspondence and at great expense. In France, Germany, and other European countries, L. assu. has made some progress; but beyond the limits of Europe the practice is very limited.

In the Brit. Colonies there is a general anxiety for the introduction of such institutions, of which at present they are almost entirely destitute. In one or two instances small schemes have been commenced for the purpose of L. assu. These, however, are local, and consequently limited in their operations; not obtaining sufficient numbers to give a proper average of life, and being conducted with comparatively great expense.

In India L. assu. offices exist, but there is still a wide field open to an inst. founded on the most recent experience, conducted with liberality, and affording those facilities which well-constituted L. assu. inst. in Gt. Brit, now adopt.

The Colonial L. Assu. Co. has been estab. for the purpose of extending to the Colonies of Gt. Brit. and to India, the full benefit of L. assu.; and for the purpose of giving increased facilities to persons visiting or residing in foreign countries.

With a view to facilitate the operations of the Co., branches or agencies were estab. in the East Indies and Ceylon; in Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia; in the West Indies, Cape Colony, and Australia.

Regarding the prems. to be charged we are told :

The rates which the Co. have adopted have been formed on the most correct obs. which exist as to the value of life; and the directors have to acknowledge, among other sources, the valuable aid which they have received from the Parl. Reports prepared by Col. Tulloch, in regard to the mort. among Brit, troops in the Colonies of Gt. Brit.; and the important assistance in their proceedings afforded by Henry Marshall, Esq., Deputy Inspector-Gen. of Army Hospitals, and medical adviser of the Co. The arrangement of the countries in which the Co. undertook the risk of residence into classes, with corresponding rates of prem. and conditions for each class, was exceedingly clear and comprehensive. This part of the prosp. will be dealt with under head of FOREIGN RESIDENCE.

The conditions regarding officers of the army and navy were very liberal These will be spoken of under MILITARY SERVICE and NAVAL SERVICE respectively. Then under title of "Protective Insurances" whole-world licenses were issued. [WHOLE WORLD INS.] Among the orig. shareholders of the Co. were some of the nobility, gentry, and leading merchants of Scotland. The Co. also had the support of several of the Scotch L. offices not undertaking direct foreign bus. ; but its chief strength lay undoubtedly in its intimate relations with the Standard L.

The report presented at the fifth ann. gen. meeting, held in 1851, said: "The rate of mort., making all allowances, has thus been considerably under 1 p.c.-a result which, in the most favourable circumstances, could scarcely have been looked for in a class embracing Brit. lives only."

In 1852 the Co. absorbed the bus. of the East of Scotland, founded 1845.

In 1854, or earlier, it commenced bus. in the U.S., and continued the same down to 1861, when the affairs of the agency were closed.

In 1854 the period arrived for making the first investigation in the affairs of the Co., with a view to the ascertainment and division of surplus. The report of the Act., Mr. Thomson, on that occasion, is full of interest. The Co., we are told, was received from the first in every colony with the promise of bus., and the "support of the highest authorities was accorded to it." The following T. shows the progress of the bus. :

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The ins. in force on 25th May, 1854, amounted to £1,261,517.

The next T. shows us the places or parts of the world in which the ins. had been effected:

Gt. Brit. (chiefly on lives of persons going abroad)
North America....

West Indies

Sums Ins.

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£495,280
351,404
263,851
131,579

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19,399

Ann. Prems.

£18,031

10,652

15,616

6251

712

Then we are told:

The report contained some other interesting and instructive details. After the Co. was estab., various local offices arose in the Colonies from time to time, brought into existence chiefly by the example of the Colonial; and the directors were well pleased to find that the provident spirit they had endeavoured to create had been fully aroused, and showed every prospect of being widely responded to. They did not dread the opposition of these cos., however, satisfied that a wholesome rivalry was beneficial; and so it has proved-for this Co. has been most completely successful in those places where the opposition arose. In some instances, native institutions were found to exist when the Co. extended their bus. to particular localities; one of these in the W. Indies handed over its affairs to the Colonial; others still exist, and one of them, the Jamaica Mutual, although on a comparatively small scale, has given very satisfactory results, and promises, with continued prudence, to do well. But the Colonial did not and does not find that these local cos. in any degree retard its progress-on the contrary, as said before, they tend to keep alive prudent and provident thoughts in men's minds; while, even as rivals, their respective interests do not clash to any extent. The local offices suit those who have no prospect of leaving the locality in which the co. is estab.,-persons who can watch the management of the inst., and probably take part in it; but the Colonial is on a wider basis: it is managed by persons who have been for years in the daily practice of transacting L. assu. bus. on a large scale; its investments are not confined to the locality, island, or colony in which the Co. subsists, but are made partly in the Colonies, and partly in Gt. Brit.

The valuation of the risks of the Co. was based upon (1) the English Mort. T.; (2) the data of Messrs. Dodwell and Miles in regard to the army in India; and (3) on the T. adjusted with reference to the particular risks as derived from the information in the hands of the Co. The rate of int. assumed was 3 p.c., except in some exceptional cases. A divisible surplus of £51,000 appeared, of which about one-half was distributed to the pol.-holders, yielding a rev. bonus of 2 p.c. p.a. A new issue of £500,000 cap. took place after this investigation, at a prem. of 30s. p. share. The prem. income of the Co. was at this date £51,263. Its invested funds reached £172,539.

A reduction in the rates of prem. for certain classes of the Co.'s bus. was made soon after this investigation, some of the results of which will be spoken of under date 1859. In 1855 the Co. obtained a special Act-18 & 19 Vict. cap. cxxv.-An Act for Incorp. the "Colonial L. Assu. Co."; for enabling the said Co. to sue and be sued, to take and hold property; and for other purposes relating to the said Co. The Co. was incorp. "with perpetual succession and a common seal"; but the liability of the Co. and shareholders to continue. The pol. already issued to remain effectual. The head office of the Co. to be in the City of Edinburgh. The Co. having now ceased to carry on bus. as a distinct corp., it is not necessary to follow the provisions of the Act in further detail; but there was contained a clause regarding amalgamation sufficiently important to be perpetuated:

XXV. It shall be lawful for the directors (three-fourths of their number agreeing and concurring) at any time to undertake, on behalf of the Co., the payment of the sums and annu. respectively assured and granted by any assu. co. or so. desirous of being dissolved or of relinquishing the whole or any part of their bus.; and to purchase the bus. of any such co. or so., and to make such contracts and arrangements with any such co. or so. for enabling the directors to complete such undertaking, and to exonerate the co. or so. so dissolved or relinquishing bus. from all further liability in respect of the sums and annu. which the directors, on behalf of the Co., may have undertaken to pay; and to obtain from any such co. or so, a transfer to the Co. of so much of the funds or property and bus. of such co. or so. as the directors shall think fit.

The provisions of the Cos. Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, were incorp. into this Act.

In 1859 a second investigation for surplus took place. The progress of the bus. and resources of the Co. during this quinquennium were as follow:

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The claims of 1858 included £7300 in consequence of the Indian Mutinies. The report of the Act. says:

In these five years the stability of the Co. has been tried by a combination of events well calculated to test its principles. We had the Crimean war in 1854 and 1855, which exposed many connected with the Co. to increased risk; the Indian mutinies in 1857-8. Cholera and yellow fever visited various places where the Co. had extended their bus.; while the commercial difficulties of 1857 militated against the extension of bus. But through all these the Co. has passed unharmed, with a reputation increased both at home and abroad.

The T. employed in the valuation were the same, "with trifling exceptions, founded on add. experience," as in 1854. The divisible surplus amounted to £66,017.

The sum of £34.518 was applied to a rev. bonus at the rate of 14 p.c. p.a. on the sums ins. The report said hereon:

When it is borne in mind that the Co. have since 1854 reduced their rates of prem. for various classes of assu., the difference is easily explained; and the Act. has proved to the Directors, by a careful investigation, that these deductions amount to no less a sum than £10,000-an amount which, had it been received, would have authorized the declaration of the bonus at the higher rate.

It was stated that an investigation was in progress regarding the results of each class of risks undertaken by the Co. The ann. income of the Co. was reported to be £100,904 ; the accumulated fund £342,354.

In 1860 the Co. introduced the system of "unconditional assurance," of which we shall speak under LIFE INS., IMPROVEMENTS IN.

In 1864 the third investigation for surplus took place. The progress of the bus. and resources of the Co. during that quinquennium were shown to be as follows:

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The surplus shown amounted to £73,147; of which it was resolved to distribute £63,147 viz. £53,022 to pol.-holders, yielding a bonus of £1 10s. p.c. p.a. on the sums insured; and 10,125 to the shareholders. The remaining £10,000 was carried to a guarantee fund.

The localities from which the bus. of the Co. had been obtained from the commencement were given, as follows:

Gt. Brit., including persons going abroad or having the prospect of foreign residence.

British North America

West Indies

East Indies

Ceylon

...

...

£1,983,040
1,256,241

794, 189

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499,546 279,108

313,100
84,099

8,800 117,748

£5,335,875.

The Report said the directors had frequently been urged to reduce their rates for various climates, and they had given these appeals their most serious consideration; "but after weighing well the arguments brought forward, and studying with much care the results of their own mort., they have come to the conclusion that they have not suf

ficient data to authorize their making the proposed reduction." The directors add, with characteristic frankness:

There is no doubt that other offices are transacting bus. at lower prems. in many places, and prove formidable rivals to the Co.; but that is not an argument, taken by itself, which has any influence with your directors, as they are satisfied that the Colonial rates, as far as present reliable knowledge extends, are fair and equitable. But as soon as they are satisfied, by the result of sound obs., that these rates are unduly in excess, they will promptly give the assured the benefit. Small inst. making large rates of int. on comparatively small sums, locally invested, and restricting their operations to a narrow circle, may transact bus, on lower rates, trusting to the fortunate continuance of such results during the lives of the assured; but with these inst. the directors do not place themselves in competition. They have their local advantages, and may be preferred by those more especially who can take part in their management and watch over their local proceedings. But in the case of one who looks forward with prudent anxiety to the future, long deferred as the lifetime of an individual may be, the Colonial seeks a preference, as standing on a wide basis: their character and position being as well known and recognized in every Brit. Colony as in Edin., Lond., or Dublin.

On the founding of the Home and Colonial Ins. Co. in 1864, this Co. took steps to restrain that Co. from using the second portion of its name, but without success.

As a proof of the careful attention bestowed upon the orig. scheme of the Co., it may be stated that no material change was found to be necessary during a period of nearly 20 years of practical working. The rates in certain classes, as already stated, were modified; but in other respects the project was well matured from the beginning.

In 1865 the peculiar relations in which this Co. stood in regard to the Standard Co. became the subject of consideration. The Colonial, as we have seen, owed its existence to the Standard. The directors were in part the same; the Man. and Act. was the same. The Standard had aided the younger Co. in forming its colonial connexions; but, as a penalty, had been shut out from colonial bus. itself. The Colonial, on the other hand, had cultivated some home bus. ; and in that sense had become a competitor of the Standard. Elements of antagonism had thus, as a necessity of the situation, become invoked. They might grow wider; there was a prospect that they would. The management surveyed the position of matters fully and fairly, and a conclusion was formed that a fusion of interests was the most practical solution of the entire questions involved. The shareholders of the respective cos. had a comprehensive "memorandum" addressed to them. That addressed to the proprietors of this Co. bears date April, 1865. It would appear that the proprietors concurred in the views set forth by the Man.; and accordingly an amalg. of the two Cos. was arranged, upon the basis of one share in the Standard being exchanged for each four in the Colonial; and so these two flourishing institutions became one to the advantage, as it appears, of all concerned. The arrangements were not finally completed until 1866.

We may add that the bus. of the Co. is carried on as a separate branch of the Standard bus., and upon the original basis of 1846. [STANDARD LIFE.] COLONIAL LIFE Assu. Co., MORTALITY EXPERIENCE OF.-Interesting T. of the Mort. Experience of the Colonial were some years since prepared for the purpose of the internal working of the office. These have never been pub., but we believe their results have been open to all other offices which cared to profit by them. Some few interesting facts regarding the early mort. experience of the Co. are contained in the preceding art.

At the bonus meeting, 1864, among the statements submitted by the Act. were1. The mort. of the Co. during the 5 years from 25th May, 1859, to same date, 1864. 2. The mort. of the Co. during the previous 5 years 1854-9. 3. The mort. of the Co. during the whole period of the Co.'s existence-from Aug. 1846, to 25th May, 1864.

Again, each of these was submitted in a tabular form, and showed the actual results as compared with the original calculations: while other tables of mort. were appended to illustrate still further the results of the Co.'s operations.

The report of the directors contained this important passage:

It would be premature to pub. these curious and instructive results, as the directors are anxious to add to their experience before giving them to the world; but it may be stated that the proportion which the actual number of deaths bore to the expected number had increased very considerably during the period of five years from 1859 to 1864, beyond that exhibited during the period of 13 years from 1846 to 1859, in Gt. Brit., in America, in the East Indies (civil life), in Ceylon, and in the W. Indies-showing that the mort, increases relatively in a greater degree as the Co. advances in age— that is to say, the mort. among lives which have been connected with the Co. for 10, 15, or 20 years, will be increasingly greater than among lives of the same age in the first five years of their connexion with the Co.; or otherwise that the mort. among a certain number of persons of the same age, in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th periods of 5 years respectively after joining the inst., will have gradually increased, affording less favourable results as we recede from the period at which the lives were accepted. [SELECTION, MEDICAL.]

But the rep. by Prof. Christison, the med. officer of the Co., presented on the same occasion, contained some more explicit details-indeed, some facts of very considerable interest. He said the Co. had been long enough in existence, and its bus. was sufficiently extensive in various parts of the world, to supply, from an investigation of the deaths, some useful information as to the causes of death in various climates, and their bearing on the principles and practice of ins. He then furnished some details, of which the following is an abstract:

The deaths down to the most recent date have been 578. Of these 230 have occurred in temperate countries, and 348 in hot climates. The only colonies belonging to the temperate class in which the deaths have been numerous enough to yield trustworthy results are those of Brit. N. America. The

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