Easter Monday, it is decided to hold the next meeting on Wednesday the 28th inst., and as the Races take place the following week, there will be no other meet Monday the 10th Mey unless special occurs, The Meeting then adjourned, NOBTH-CHINA INSURANCE COMPANY, The Fourth Ordinary General Meeting of the shareholders in this Company was held on Wednesday afternoon at the Company's offices, Nankow Road, Mr. E. H. Lavers, Chairman of the Board of Directors, pre-ided, and there were also present Messrs. H. Bell, W. Brand, J. A. Hawes, A. C. Wes tail, E.' Wheeley and A. G. Wood (Direetors), and Meesrs. H. Hertz, J. M. Youn, Welch, C. Lucas, H. M. Schuliz, TI. Macdonald. F. Henderson, W. White, C. G. Warburg, RD. Starkey, H J. Such, A. Schroers, It. H. Beauchamp, #1. J. Price, J A. Taylor, W. Pardon, (, M. Dyce, A. Clifton, W. M. Primrose, Nils Mdller, G. Clark, Muk Ling and A Ross (Secretary), ing 1,809 votes The Cuarmwan said—Gentlemen, there being a quorum present, E call upon Me. Rest, the Secretary, to rend the notice con vening the Me. Rose read the notice accordingly.
'The Cuaintax—Gentlemen, the Direc-tore! report and Auditors' balance-sheet for the half-year ended 31st December Inst have been in your possession for sume ime, and doubtless they have received careful attention, With your per-we will take them as read, a alo the minutes of the last meeting. From the remarks that fell from me at our last ing I think you will all have anticipated the unsatisfactory results of the Inst half year—or, I may say, of the year 1885, which will, I am cure, be remembered by underwriters' generally aa having been a disastrous one, have not been Io jond-class vessels, but by Gret-cla which were looked upon as rat class riske, The Company's business has been, 0 to speak, autisfactory, an increase of premia showing that to be the case; but the losses, and the reduced rate of promin owing to keen competition, have brought about the result which you before you in the balance sheet. The claims paid since the Ist January you will see amount to is. 144,200; and since then known casualties and further payments amount to Ts, 87,800. 8 thy date of our report, the 12th April, we know of nothing further of any importaner, You will notice the altered form of our balance. siiest, which is rendered in sterling; which T think will be clearer net only to our shareholders at home, but also tu those out here, The dividend which will be declared falls considerably short, Lam aorry to tay, of what we have ever declared before since the formation of the Company. For the past our average dividend to contributors has been very nearly 30 per speak more accurately, 20 per cent. But for 1885 we are not able tu give you mor than 15 per cent on your contribut although that la ander what we have hitherto paid, I think it compares satisfac. torily with other companies. I do not allude to our local companies, gbut- more particularly to companies in England and in other parts of the world. Therefore, although we do not get euch a great return on our contributions as heretofore, I do not think, considering all thinge that we ought complain. There is an item which a pearson our balance-sheet for the first time you will Gnd it the Working Account of 1884. Thereisanitem thereof Sundry Char-Commissions and Income Tax—Tls, 6,500, This income tax we haveneverhad to pay before, owing to the Company not having been registered; but now, apparently, our liability being limited we cannot out of paying it, Another item which Will not occur again is the amount due from the late Oriental Bank. I am happy to say that we have made an arrangement with the liquidators of the Oriental Bank which has been very satisfactory to the Directors, and will be to the shareholders when TI tell them that we have re something over and above what we ai cipated. The past quarter—that is to say
doen al curably wil lant year. The losses up to the Slat 3 are considerably less than those ascertained up to the same period last year. i nothing more that I know of that I need allude to; but befure any resolution is put before the meeting I shall be glad to #nswer any questions which shareholders nay wish to pnt with reference to the BIN. Hentz—May I ask, Me. Chairm: whether the income tax to which you have referred is on the whole income of the Company, or on the bouds we hold in England, om what?
The Cuarrwan—On an Assessment of ed that the past year has been a disastrous one to the Company ao far the exceptionally high losses are cou-cerned. I think it, would be information to the shareholders if you could state how far the losses appertain to the China Trade, which was supposed to be the object of the Company when it was first started and how much of the losses appertain to oniside Lusiness, That is to any, what proportion of the losses for 1885 belongs to the China trade, and what proportion to the outside trade?
The Cuarnaay—Spoakingyenerally, Mr, Taylor, I muy aay the losses have occurred in what may be called the legitimate India and China trade, Mr, Tavton—That is not my question, Mr. Chairman, [do not wish to go into particulars with regard to the which I have lacs of taels, belongs to the China trade and how much to trade with other parts of the world. I do not question the legitimacy of the business. ug to have a few details of the larger losses that the Company had incurred. He asked th Secretary tu kindly read sume of the details, Mr. Ross then read " list of losses which had been incurred, wil over Ts, 5,000, from which it appeared that among the heaviest losses had been those steamers Radnorshire, Teucer, Glenfrui and Indus, Mr. Tavton said he was very ed for the information 5 but it w exactly what he had asked for, He wished to known what proportion of the losses belonged to the China trade, and what prepare tion to the new trade, which the Company had entered into w roused capital, appeared to hi Company hin met with severe lo in other parts of th world, 8 for instance between the Colonies and London, and Callao and London, on wooden and composite vessels, He thought the comparison of losses would be important for the shareholders to know, as their position might have been better but for this outside business.
The Cuatetay—Mr. Taylor, it appears to be your impression that we ing our business very considerably in different directions since the Company has become one of limited liability. It is not so, We have confined our business as much as possible to what it has been during the last ton years, These riske—what we may term outside riske—have really not been unprofitable to the Company. Though they have been really very small, the business has not been uuprofitable. However, if you want some detailed Syures, I am quite sure Mr, Ross will be very happy to furnish you with them. The losses, as you heard just ow, have been in our particular line of busi ness—the East India and China trad firet-clare riske,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.