THE ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE CORPORATION

Southland Times, Issue 18855, 22 June 1920, Page 6

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE CORPORATION

INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER A.D. 1720. A remarkable gathering will be assembled in the City of London on the 22nd of this mouth, when the controlling officers of the Royal Exchange Assurance ‘from all parts of the world, will assemble to in the celebrations of the Bi-Centenary o» this oldestablished institution. Notwithstanding that the Royal Exchange Assurance has been operating in this Dominion for very many years, it is possible that very few people in this distant part of the globe realise to the full that the operations of the Corporation have been carried on for a period of two hundred years. The Corporation was first organised in the year 1717, but the petition lor the Royal Sanction, made it seems, but slow progress through the Council and the Attor-ney-General’s department, for the South Sea Bubble was then raging, and many of the Ministers, including the Attorney-General himself (and who was indeed afterwards prosecuted) had shares in the Great Bubble scheme and (It is recorded) wished as far as possible, to secure for it, the exclusive attention of the Company. The petitioners therefore (under high legal authority) at once commenced business under the temporary title of the Mining Royal Mineral and Batteries works, and in three-quarters of a year, insured property to the amount of nearly two millions sterling. After the lapse of two years, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, eager for the money to be paid' for the Charter, and a select committee having made a rigid inquiry into the project and the cash lodged at the bank to meet losses, recommended the grant to the House of Commons. The Act of the 6th George 1. Gap. 18 authorised the King to grant a Charter which was accordingly done June 22, 1720. In 1721 the Royal Exchange Assurance obtained another Charter for Assurance on lives. Copies of the Charter are in possession of the General Manager for New Zealand at the New 7 Zealand Head Office of the Corporation at Wellington. It is interesting to note that the first. Royal Exchange was practically destroyed by fire in 1666 during the plague fires. The second Royal Exchange was destroyed by fire on the 10th January, 1838. The present Royal Exchange was opened by Queen Victoria on the 28th October, 1844. Her Majesty at the opening ceremony repeated the formula—“lt is my Royal will and pleasure that this building be hereafter called “The Royal Exchange.” The progress of the Corporation in all Branches of its business during the past 200 years has been marvellous, and to-day its business con nations touch all parts of the world, including the islands of the South Sea. The New Zealand Branch is conducted in and controlled from Wellington, while Branches and Agencies are established in all parts of the Dominion. A Board of Directors is appointed and reside in Wellington, and consists of Messrs William Brown, George Wilson and Alexander Macintosh, Mr Osmond R. Bendall being the General Manager for New Zealand. The presence of this inrtitution in this Dominion has been, and still is, of advantage to New Zealand. The Corporation not only transacts all classes of insurance business, but has also large investments in property and advances on mortgage. U5537