§ MR. KENDAL O'BRIEN (Tipperary, Mid.)To ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether the Irish Provident Assurance Company furnished his Department with a balance sheet and report for the past year; if so, was it of a satisfactory character; is the Company bound to issue an annual statement of accounts to the shareholders and customers; could he state the manner in which the capital of the Company is invested; and was the £20,000 statutory deposit made last year by a life assurance company with which the Irish Provident Assurance Company propose to transact business found by the latter; and, if not, could he state the manner in which it was found.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The Irish Provident Assurance Company, Limited is not empowered to transact life business, and consequently has not furnished the Board of Trade with a balance sheet and report for the past year. The Company is not bound by its articles of association to issue an annual statement of accounts to the shareholders and customers. I cannot say how the capital of the Company is invested; and with regard to the £20,000 deposit by a life assurance company with which the Irish Provident Assurance Company, Limited, propose to transact business, I have no information by whom or how the amount was found.