IS ' 3.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



MUTUAL LIP 



ASSURANCE 



♦ 



SCOTTISH PROVIDENT INSTITUTION 



The SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL GENEBAL MEETING of this SOCIETY was held at Edinburgh, 



on 21st February, 



Mr. CHARLES MORTON, Writer to the Signet, the Senior Director, in the Chair. 



mg prm- 



Th# Chaibmav. after thanking the meeting, and referring 

 1-iSf to the several topics embraced in the report from the 

 JSlciors add he meeting on the distinguish 



^j^o/the li itution. He recapitulated the grounds of pre- 

 ■Heiof mutual over proprietary offices, and of the system of 

 rtte prwr. as and appropriation of the surplus unbroken to 

 who have made surplus payments over the system of ex- 

 premiums and promiscuous bonuses. The Chairman 

 this laid— I believe that most classes who have incomes de- 



their lives have largely availed themselves of Life 

 gaee: but there is one class of the community I should 

 ___ I, re ft C h f who do not make so much of its advantages as 

 tWroaf I mean the important class of tenant farmers. I 

 hare frequently conversed on the subject with farmers, even of 

 MMrior intelli ice, and I have been grieved to find a prejudice 

 •ttlfcg agr- t A nee, founded very generally on the 



MffUflftirn I have j noticed, that it would be less beneficial 

 faiStaod than their own savings would be ; and founded also 

 on an idea that, though it might be very useful to some classes, 

 •U not of much consequence to them. Now, I think that the 

 dais of farmers is just one of the classes to whom Life Assurance 

 if peculiarly valuable. The position of the farmer is often this : 

 He baa taken a lease, and, u a person of enterprise, very pro- 

 babl all the capital he has is sunk in the land at the outset. 

 He ay die at that stage, and what is then the position of his 

 fam All 1 e has is ink on the farm, and perhaps his credit 



* pdged even for something more. His lease cannot be 



goes to his eldest son as heir-at-law; and unless his 

 fl J • son gets along with it the crop and the stock, he cannot 

 car on the farm. From what fund, then, are the widow 

 and the younger children to be provided for, if the parent 

 iDi I lave died in such circumstances, and before he has 

 got back from the land, and accumulated as savings, 

 as much of the money expended on it as would form 

 a provision for them ? It is clear that, in such a case, 

 they mu >t either be left in poverty, or a burden on the 

 htir; which perhaps he may bear with for a time without 

 ajrudge, but which, when he gets a family of his own, may be 

 more than he or the profits of the lease can stand, and may lead 

 er«a to its surrender and the loss of all the outlay. How often is 

 a farmers family thus situated, if its head dies early ; and how 

 different would be their position and their comfort if he had had 

 tlueprad to insure his life! By a very small annual pay- 

 ment, which could never affect his means of cultivating his farm, 

 or even diminish his personal comforts, he might have the satis- 

 acficn of knowing that 3;is stock and crop, with his lease, would 

 go unburdened to his eldest son, ensuring a fair and remunerative 

 rking of the farm ; while his widow and younger children 

 jonld be comfortably provided for by the sum in his Policy. I 

 very strongly the importance of Life Assurance to the 



long 





fa] 



fjjjjj^r and I am glad to see present a gentleman who has great 

 jJWttce with that important class (the Secretary to the High- 

 jand and Agricultural Society), and probably the work in which 

 te has been lately engaged in reporting on the Agricultural 

 jJJJflaUcs of the country will give him better opportunities of 

 Wngmg the subject of Life Assurance— a subject in which t 

 **** ne also takes a warm interest — under their notice. I hope 

 «a n»ult may be that we shall see a great many more farmers 

 *!yS themselves of Life Assurance than there are at present. 

 W- ^eil CoLQCHOT'jf Campbell, advocate, laid on the table the 

 JjJJrt hy the Directors, which showed that since the commence- 

 5?*°* ^e Institution 7184 policies had been issued, assuring 



jy? »' .* n tae * ast y ear the number of new policies was 577, 



** nn g £258,595 . The amount of new business is thus some- 



*** jets than the previous year, the diminution having arisen 



talf vittiin tUe last few months, and being easily traceable 

 •*«°»03wcial depression, following upon high prices and in- 

 , rff l< t taxation. 



*^« report, with the relative states, and the report by the 

 *wnors, having been read— 



mm^ih*? Il hy Forbes, Esq., of Kingairloch. said : I beg to 

 "**t the highly favourable report we have just heard 





read be approved of by the contributors. I have been 

 connected with this Institution, and I can boar witness to 

 the attention paid both by the Directors and thos. In the 

 management to everything tending to promote the prosperity 

 of the establishment. As one of the class alluded to by 

 the chairman, I can say that in carrying out the operations 

 of a large farm, which I have had occasion to take into i own 

 management, I have derived great benefit from my connexion with 

 this office, and I only wonder that more of the class of farmers 

 have not joined it. It is not the object of the farmer tosp©eulafc 

 for bonuses. What he has to do is to secure a provision for his 

 family at the lowest possible outlay, and in no < Dice can he do 

 that with so much advantage to himself as in this office. He may 

 here, without throwing away any of his chance of profits, insure 

 1000?. for the same sum that would only bring him SCO?, in 

 another office. It is a comfortable thing for a man paying away 

 his money to this society to know that he cannot lose it, for if he 

 happens to die before he has paid up the sum insured, his family 

 is a considerable gainer; and if he is spared till he has paid up 

 that sum, he has the prospect of one of those comfortable bonuses 

 being added to the sum to be paid his relatives at his death. In 

 these times, when taxation and all the necessaries of life are so 

 high, there is an additional motive — I may say duty — for the 

 head of a family to make provision for those he leaves behind 

 him, in order to meet the enhanced price of the necessaries of life, 

 on which their comfort so much depends. I beg to move that the 

 Report now read be approved of. 



Mr. William Gray, farmer at Southfield, seconded the motion, 

 and expressed his entire concurrence in the remarks of Mr 

 Forbes. ■ 



The motion was put, and unanimously agreed to. 



The Chairman expressed his satisfaction that his remarks had 

 called up two farmers. Lie would remind them that they were 

 the class at present most able to insure, as while others groaned 

 under high prices they were reaping the advantage. (Laughter.J 



Mr. Hall Maxwell, of Dargavel, Secretary to the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society of Scotland, then said : I have great 

 pleasure in moving that we give the thanks of the meeting to the 

 Directors for their services during the past year. I am quite sure 

 you will all willingly join in the compliment so well earned by 

 these gentlemen, who have devoted so much time and trouble 

 to the promot on of your interests, and to whose industry and in- 

 telligence, as well as to the possession of similar qualities by their 

 predecessors in office, we owe in so great a degree the high posi- 

 tion which this institution now occupies. The Chairman has been 

 pleased to allude to me in connexion with the great and acknow- 

 ledged advantages of Life Assurance to the farming com- 

 munity. I apprehend that all I can do in this matter is to express 

 my entire concurrence with what has fallen from the Chairman ; 

 but I fear that any attempt on my part to inculcate on the farmers 

 the nature of these advantages might be regarded as somewhat 

 foreign to the functions of my office. At the same time I have 

 that high appreciation of the intelligence of the farmers of 

 Scotland— and certainly there is no man in Scotland who has 

 better opportunities of knowing them than I have — as to feel 

 perfectly convinced that they will year after year become 

 more impressed with these advantages, and that they will year 

 after year more generally avail themselves of them. You say 

 that you have called up two farmers. Why, I think this is 

 altogether a very agricultural meeting— (laughter)— for I have at 

 present other two farmers in my eye, and I must say that, 

 attending, as I sometimes do, on the meetings of other bodies such 

 as this, I do not generally see such meetings graced by so many 

 members of the agricultural profession as this is. As I have said, 

 I sometimes attend other meetings of this kind. As you know, 

 I am connected with another Insurance Company, and as, I dare 

 say, there are many other gentlemen here who are connected 

 with other bodies, I would like to make one observation, and I do 

 it with the best of feeling, in reference to a remark which fell 

 from my friend, Mr. Campbell. Connected as I am with other 

 bodies, I could not subscribe exactly to the doctrine which, I 



The meeting separated after a vote of thanks to the Chairman. 



understand, that gentleman laid down, that the Scottish Provi- 

 dent was the only Institution which an insurer should goto. 

 (Laughter.) But this I will say, that there is no o er office in 

 nd I would more willingly and readily, or with greater 

 confidence, go to than th.- Scot h Provident HI ear, hear.) To 

 that length I will go, and I think that is the legitimate leng'h to 

 go. Before sitting down, I cannot fori ear expn g the grati- 



fc n afforded me by the unanimous and harmonious manner 

 in which this day's report has been received and approved of, I 

 do trust that our affairs will continue to be managed so as to 

 warrant us to hope that our furure meetings n ill be characterised 

 by that harmony which it is no less our inter* than I am sure 

 it is our inclination to promote. I have 1 refore on] to propose 

 that the thanks of this meeting be given to the Directors for their 

 services dm g the past year. 



Mr. G] ioeHopi, farmer, Fentonbarns, said— As a farmer I 

 rise to c< nd tl is motion. I had the pleasure, si i hearing 

 the greater part of what you said, and was much pleased with, 

 the clear and distinct manner in which you p tinted out the 

 benefits of life insurance. I was not b« re aware that the farmers 

 as a bod behindhand in taking advantage of life assurance. 



For my own part, I see several other farmers pn tent, and 1 have 

 known several whose farms after their death had been enabled to 

 be carried on at a profit, which would not have been -the case had 

 they not left a life insurance policy. I think it is every man's 

 duty, in whatever rank or station of life he may be placed, to 



insure his life. It is a Christian duty, even although those he 



leaves do not directly depend upon it, as it is only by the union of 

 numbers that the familit >f those who die early can be provided 

 for. 1 may mention, also, in reference to what Mr. Campbell said 

 of the benefits of the Scottish Provident Institution, that it is now 

 some 10 or 12 years since I first joined this? ety. At that 

 time I looked most carefully over the terms of the. whole of the 

 Life Assurance Societies in Edinburgh, and 1 came to the decided 

 conviction that the Scottish Provident was the one for my money. 

 Borne years afterwards I thought it expedient to effect a second 

 insurance, and, lest I might have been wrong in my first 

 judgment, I determined that I should for the second time care- 

 fully examine the principles that regulated the different societies, 

 and again I came back to the Scottish Provident— (hear, hear)— 

 where I had the pleasure of effecting a second insurance. I beg 

 to second the motion. 



The motion was agreed to. 



The Chairman then said— I suspect I must have been in some 

 error as to the farmers. (A laugh.) But I think the remarks of 

 our friends will do a great deal of good. They show that those 

 who are in the foremost rank of their own profession are also in 

 advance in other matters affecting their interests. I doubt not 

 their example w ill be followed by many; and, if so, I will be 

 delighted to come back next year and retract every word I have 

 iid as to the farmers to-day. 



Mr. Charles Lawson, jun., seedsman, moved the thanks of 

 the contributors to the manager, secretary, and medical officer. 



Mr. Robert Sclater moved the thanks of the meeting to the 

 auditors and trustees lor their efficient services. 



Mr. David L.wKiN, postmaster at Kilmarnock, in seconding 

 the motion, made some remarks as to the peculiarly favourable 

 advantage held out by the Scottish Provident Institution to 

 young lives, and dwelt more particularly on \his subject in con- 

 nection with the initiative the Government had recently taken in 

 the promotion of Life Assurance amongst the Post Office officials; 

 and sincerely entertaining a conviction of the superior benefits 

 of this s ety, had no doubt but that it would largely participate 

 in the business thus thrown open. 



Mr. John Schank More, Professor of Scots Law; Mr. John 

 Fletcher M'Farlan. Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce; 

 and Mr. James Crawford, jun., W.S., were then appointed 

 directors in room of the three retiring ; and Mr. Robert Walker 

 (of Bell and Bradfute), publisher, Master of the Merchant 

 Company, was appointed Auditor, in room of Mr. Crawford. 



MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE. 



SCOTTISH 



PROVIDENT 



INSTITUTION 



THE ONLY OFFICE WHICH COMBINES THE ADVANTAGE OF PARTICIPATION IN THE 



WHOLE PROFITS WITH MODERATE PREMIUMS. 



t ?* l^iums are, at early and middle ages, about 

 flj ?*- " jj} wer tnan * n other mutual or participating 

 ^j p *"*y are as low as the non-participating rates 

 not ^ \ 0prietai T Companies, which they admit of being, 

 to fa pv** 1 8afet y but with ample Reversion of Profit 

 lK»u V^y holders, beinar free from the burden of 

 ^ends to shareholders. 



jfg^. r An nm i Premium to Assure 1007. at Death. 



=■ * -1_3<1_0 ~T~3o"H — *5 I EI 



■lLgjj L JjJ_£ 2 6 10 1 £2 14 9 | £3 5 9 j £4 1 7 



^person of 30 may secure 1000Z. at death, for 



to any of 

 for 800J. 





a* 



Wlier itf nt ° f 20L 15s -' which ' if paid * 

 » instead 1m rX* 8 ' W(mld secure a P oIicJ * 



^ *&tead of 10007. 



The arrangement, by which the premiums are re- 

 duced to a rate commensurate with the risk, is obviously 

 more suited for securing a competent family provision, 

 in case of early death, than that which, by the same 

 yearly outlay, secures a much smaller present sum, 

 with the hope only of prospective and contingent addition. 



^ *r~—— — — — — ____^_^ 



PROFITS. 



The principle on which the Profits are divided is at 

 once safe, equitable, and favourable to good Liv 

 the surplus being reserved for those members who alone 

 can have made surplus payments ; in other words, for 

 those whose Premiums, with accumulated interest, 

 amount to the sums in their Policies. 



The practical working of the system has been, that 



at the First Division of Surplus— 15^ years after the 



commencement — Bonus Additions have been made to 

 the Policies which have come within the participating 



class, 



Varying from 20 to 54 per cent, on their amount. 



In all points of practice — as in provision for the 

 indefeasibility of policies, facility of license for travelling, 

 or residence abroad, and of obtaining advances on the 

 value of the Policies— the regulations of the Society, 

 as well as the administration, are as liberal aa is con- 

 sistent with right principle. 



Copies of Reports, explanatory of the principles, with 

 every information, may be had on application at the 

 Head Office, 14, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh ; or at 

 the London Branch, 66', Gracechurch Street, City. 





LONDON BRANCH, 66, GRACECHURCH STREET, CITY. 



JAMES WATSON, Manager. 

 GEORGE GRANT, Resident Secretary, 



