ROYAL EXCHANGE.
The vitality of the Royal Exchange Assurance seems to increase rather than diminish with the passing of years. The fact that the recent meeting constituted the 209th Annual General Court impresses the imagination with regard to the long period over which this great company has exercised its useful and successful activities. At the recent General Court, the Governor, Mr. Vivian Hugh Smith, reported continued progress in the Life business, the net insurances completed during the year increasing by £270,000 to £2,496,000, while the interest earned on the Life Fund stood at the satis- factory figure of £5 13s. 11d. per cent. as against £5 13s. 8d. per cent, in the previous year. The Governor stated that the quinquennial valuation of the Life Fund would take place at the end of 1930, and that at the present time there is every indication that the bonus distribution would be a satisfactory one. With regard to the Fire Department, there has been a transfer from that Department of £150,600 with a small increase in the net Premium Income. There was also a slight further increase in the Premium Income in the Accident Depart- ment. In the Marine Department the Premium Income was reduced by about £67,000, while the Fund stands at about £740,000, or over 125 per cent. of the Premium Income shown in the accounts. The Governor was careful to explain that the fall which has taken place in the Fund from £918,264 to £745,000 does not mean that the Corporation has made a loss of £178,000 on the Account. It has merely paid away money reserved for the purpose for which it has been used, and Mr. Smith expressed the belief that the present figure of £745,000 would be sufficient to run off all the risks of the Marine Department on business brought into the account to the end of the year. The Company has declared a further dividend of 17 per cent., making 27 per cent. for the year.
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