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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-02-21, Page 4Page 4--Luclmow Sentinel,ie eaday, February 21, 1979 Insurance company marks 100 years West Wawanosh Mutual Fire Insurance Company was established on May 1, 1879. The company held its 100th annual meeting on February 16 in . Dungannon. According to an advertisement, a meeting was called for December 30th, 1878, at the Township of West Wawanosh Council Hall, as to whether it is expedient to organize a Fire Insurance Company upon the Mutual Principle. It was moved by John Baillie and seconded by Edwin Gaunt, that the meeting be -:in favour. of •organiz;iig. Of those in... attendance; 70 voted yea and 12 noted nay, It was moved by Edwin Gaunt . and seconded by James Rose that James Johnston, John. Baillie, Charles Durnin, Edward Sthith McLean, Robert Murray and Archibald Anderson be a committee, . with powers to add to their numbers, to take subscriptions from owners of property as to the amounts they will insure as required by the, 'Revised statues. Thecommittee met on 'February 11th, 1879, again at the Council Hall, and reported they had received subscriptions to . the amount of $51,700. An , organization meeting was called for April 5th, 1879 where Charles Girvin was named chairman and Robert Murray was named secretary. It was agreed the company. be called the West Wawanosh Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the head office to be in Dungannon and seven directors be elected for the currentyear" The directors elected by ballot were Charles Girvin, Charles Durnin, Thomas E. Finlay, Wm. Farquharson, John Cantelon, Edwin Gaunt and Thomas H. Taylor. At a meeting on. .April .12th, 1879, Charles Girvin was appointed president, Thomas E. Finley, vice-president and Robert Murray, secretary treasurer: The company directors were the agents and the company commenc- ed business May lst, 1879. At a subsequent - meeting. of May 13th, 1879 applications for insurance in the amount of $93,550 with an annual premium of $56,11 were accepted. All property insured was on the premium note system and the premium note was calculated as follows - where buildings are isolated 80 feet or more from any other buildings in which fire is used the premium note is four per cent; where isolated from sixty to eighty feet the premium. note shall be five per cent; on' property isolated forty to sixty feet the premium note. shall be six per cent. The director -agent collected from each. applicant the sum of 50 cents for his fee and 40 cents for the secretary keeping the books, and a sum equal to one and one half per cent on the amount of the premium note for the general funds of the . company. Risks accepted were farm property, churches and school houses situated out of the limits of a Village Survey. The board meetings were held in the Township Council Hall on the first Tuesday of the month. The meetings were held in the new hall, Dungannon in 1882. The introduction of steam engines for threshing caused great concern to the directors and an additional fee was charged where steam, engines were used. At the annual meeting of May 22nd, 1886, People smile a lot when they buy a car at lon tgomery Motors Ltd. Call in today and ask James about the new 1979 FORD PRODUCTS FORD LTD 2 -DOOR' • OP:r',ns Styled Mirror Groip •,WSW tares • Exter or Ar.cent rsrtftsw:>''t. • There's a good deal waiting for you MONTGOMERY Morons LTD. FORD PHONE 528-3007 LUCKNOW the board of directors was increased to nine members with three members retiring each year. Mr. Charles Girvin, president of the company for the first 19 years died on March 1st, 1898, and Mr. John Ballentine was then appointed president. By the year 1900 the amount of insurance atrisk had increased to about four millio. n dollars. It would' appear an assessment on the premium note had been made for the first 27 years of operation or until 1906 when the last assessment was made. At the annual meeting of February 2nd, 1916 districts were allocated for tlfe election of directors, namely by township districts, a practise still carried, out by the. company. Following the resignation of Thomas G. Allen as secretary, the company purchased the building from Mr. Allen for $2,500. It still serves as head office. Reinsurance was being shared with neighbouring Mutuals,. the Howick, McKil; lop, Hay, Dufferin, Elma and Usborne Hibbert: This was until. 1969 when the old reinsurance agreements ceased and they joined with. the Farm . Mutual Reinsurance Plan for their reinsurance. Until 1972 the .directors had been the agents of the company, but due to the revision of the Insurance Act where directors could no longer act as agents and where all agents must obtain 'a General Insurance Agents Licence, five of . the directors obtained this licence, namely - Donald Maclay, John F. MacLennan, Fred McQuil- lin, Mason Robinson and Delmar,SSproul. On January 1st, 1973 they resigned their directorship and were appointed agents of the company. At the annual meeting in 1973 the bylaws were amended whereby the board of directors was reduced from nine to six members. The Farm Mutual Guarantee Fund was established January 1, 1973 and the premium note was then dispensed with. • The confidence placed in the directors and management by the policyholders many of whom are generation after generation, gives renewed , vigour to carry on 19 greater service, security and stability in the next 100 years, concluded a history of the company in its annual report. Apply for sewage works grant It will take close to 18 months for Lucknow Village Council to learn how much money they will receive in a grant from the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MTC) to fund, the sewage project for the downtown core of the village. Burns Ross and Steve Burns of Burns. Ross Associates, Engineering, Goderich attended the village council meeting on.abruary 1,3 to outline to council how to proceed with their application for the grant and'when they will make their application. A rough estimate of the cost of the project is $1 million and there is no way of knowing what percentage of that amount will be grant from' MTC.• After waiting 18 months. to prepare and submit the application, it is possible that the government grant will not be substantial enough that the town can afford the cost of the remainder of the project..." "Even if the ministry grant isnot substan- tial enough thattown can afford the rest, we're strapped," commented councillor Ab Murray. The Bruce County Health Unit is almost to the point where they will force the town to put .in the sewers in the business core because of the serious sewage problems in that area. 1 There should be no problem in°getting the grant approved said Ross, especially since the Lucknow project was approved under the Ministry's old plan for sewage works funding. - The village has to reapply under a new plan for provincial funding of sewage works where.the'inunicipality constructs, owns and operates the system. Under the ministry's former plan, the ministry owned, construct- ed and operated :the system. There are so many` unknowns in a project like the ,one- :to be undertaken in Lucknow, said Ross. He mentioned the quality of the. receiving stream, soil testing, and the fact there may be construction costs because the system will be built in .a river area. The Ministry won't look at the project until they know the complete proposal and the cost, said Ross. Before submitting the application for the grant, the following details must be outlined ' and prepared; project definition, preliminary design, preparation of report, application for preliminary approval, and an environmental hearing for process and. site. Following the environmental hearing, the village will submit their .application accord- ing to the recommendations of the hearing and then wait for the government's approval of the grant and allocation of funds. Ross said he cannot ;see tenders being called for two years down the road. The project could be further delayed atthat time, said Burns. - If the project is ready to go, it could be deferred for another year or more because there are projects' ahead of Lucknow who have a greater need, rand there is no more money available at that time. Lucknow would be instructed to wait and be promised a certain amount of funding, if they proceed at the later date. Council passed a motion that Burns Ross Associates proceed with the necessary steps to prepare Lucknow's application for sewage works funding. Ashfield citizens petition plan classification Girvin Reed of Ashfield Township presented a peti- tion to Ashfield Township Council when they met Febr- uary 6, 1979, signed by land owners surrounding Lanes, ville requesting their proper- ties be removed from the restricted agriculture classi- fication as proposed in the Secondary Plan. Ron Fleming of the Minis- try of Agricultre, and Food, Clinton, attended and ex, plained the use of the Agricultural Code of Practice, and how it applies tp new buildings in Huron County. J. A. MacBride of Mait- land Engineering Services, Wingham, was present and outlined the various services provided by their firm. Lloyd Courtney, owner of a proposed ne~w subdivision on part of lot 45; Lake Range, attended to discuss the roads. Council agreed tic approve the roads as shown on the plan providing that the turn around circle at the south end; of Courtney Court be increased in diameter to 100 feet. Anne Marie Howard, a student at the University of Guelph, presented a letter of her intention to apply, for a Young Canada Works Grant along with three other stud- ents, to initiate a summer CONTINUED ON PAGE 5