11 MARCH 1938, Page 38

REFUGE ASSURANCE.

Mr. J. Wilcock Holgate, the chairman of the Refuge Assurance Company, is not perturbed by the British industrial outlook, believing that it would not be reasonable to expect recovery to proceed at one fixed pace and that progress has been built up on a healthy basis. He, too, was able to assure the members that after the fall in security values the company's holdings still stand at very substantially more than the amount at which they appear in the balance-sheet and that the investment reserve funds of £3,500,000 remain intact. In the second half of the year there was actually a slight appreciation in the market value of the investments.