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CHAPTER I The year is 1865. Just twenty six years before, the former Dutch Colonies of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice were united under the name of British Guiana. With the energy and creativity for which the Victorian British were famous, British Guiana began to make remarkable strides in its social and economic development.
By 1865, an efficient and honest administrative and judicial system had been established in the colony. The coastal road system had already been laid out and horse-carriages and riders plied these roads while the East Coast railway moved freight and passenger to and from Georgetown. The Brother Booker, later to be the main force in Guyanese economic life, ran a ferry across the Demerara River.
Georgetown was expanding at a rapid rate and though landmarks such as the Stabroek Market, the Brickdam Cathedral and the City Hall were yet to arise, it was a clean, well-drained, healthy, well lit garden city of remarkable beauty. Its mail commercial district- Water Street and its continuation, Lombard Street- had become one of the Caribbean’s great entrepots.
Griculture, and especially the sugar industry, was still expanding and Essquuibo had many sugar plantations. Shiploads of immigrants from Asia and to a lesser extent from Europe and the Caribbean disembarked at Port Georgetown to supply the Colony’s growing labour needs and to create a novel multi-racial and multi-religious society which was later to evolve into the unique synthesis of modern Guyana.
As commerce and industry expanded, there was the need for financial services such as Insurance. The mother country reaped handsome profits by providing such services. In the field of insurance, for example, English companies provided all marine, fire and life insurance policies for the Colony. The Insurance Industry appeared to be so mysterious and esoteric that no one in 1860 seriously believed that British Guyana could have an indigenous Insurance Industry.
CHAPTER II Since Georgetown was a wooden cit, there was always the fear of fire. This fear became more pronounced in the 1850’s and 1860’s as the city expanded and thousands of houses came to be built in close proximity. The commercial area, became particularly congested.
Certain legislative measures were enforced to protect the city form fires as, for example, forbidding and building in the city from having thatched or troolie roofs or making it an offence to use coal-pots within building. The planning of so many trees in the city was just not to beautify, they were intended as fire breaks as well. The canals which criss-crossed the city were not only reservoirs in time of drought or drainage conduits in time of heavy rainfall; they were meant to provide the water to extinguish fires. Fire brigades were also found in Georgetown and New Amsterdam. The business community, however, understood the risk or fire and insured the buildings and stocks with the English Companies through their local agents. The usual premiums they paid were 3% and this was considered quite expensive.
In 1864, the disaster which everyone feared occurred. On 3 rd April, the main sections of the commercial district were wiped out and on the 4 th July, just three months after, what remained of the commercial Water Street went up in flames. The loss sustained by these two fires amounted to nearly $5,000,000: which in today’s values would probably be nearly a billion dollars.
The business community were in great distress when the English insurance companies doubled their premiums to 6%. Such rated were prohibitive when it is remembered that the rate paid on savings deposits by banks was only 3%.
Dr. Etienne Manget, a medical Doctor, spoke with Governor Hincks about founding a local Fire Insurance Company and the Governor suggested a Mutual Company and promised to assist in the effort. Dr. Manget. Whom Manget Place (one of the streets linking Brickdam and Croal Street) is named, was a man of side intellectual interests and was committed to the development of the Colony. The idea might have died but it was taken up by F.A.R. Winter with zeal and energy.
F.A.R. Winter got together his various business associates and formed a provisional committee. They employed a American lawyer from the Southern States, Mr. Claughton who was resident in Georgetown, to draft the ordinance to establishing the Company. Mr. John Lucie Smith, a member of the Legislature and it was passed on 25 th October 1865. But curiously, the Company had begun doing business almost a week before it was actually incorporated by law! According to Robert Allen who was chairman in 1901:
…” A Policy still exists to this day, was taken out six days before… It was a Policy on a factory at Plantation Aurora, Essequibo. The policy was taken out by Thomas Clarke, the proprietor, father of the present Attorney General of Gold Coast”.
The Establishment of the Company was strongly opposed by the large expatriate businesses, Mainly Samuel Barber and Company, the Colonial Company and Booker Brothers. Indeed, during its first five years, no expatriate company insured with Hand-in-Hand. But as the Company grew in strength and success, by 1870 the entire business community including the expatriates such as John Booker, G.R. Sandbach, Ramsay Hill, and Barber served on the Board of Directors at one time of another. Chapter III The advent of the Hand-in-Hand Mutual Guarantee Fire Insurance Company was an event of revolutionary importance in the economic history of Guyana. It made Guyanese realize that the challenges of “high finance” were not beyond their capabilities. On the more practical level, its establishment caused the foreign companies to immediately drop their rates to 3%. Though Hand-in-Hand kept a maximum rate of 3% as a mutual Company, the profits returned to the policyholder and so the rate was in reality less than 3%.
With Hand-in-Hand, for the first time houses belonging to ordinary folk, cultural property and small businesses were able to enjoy insurance since the English companies would only take large business risks. For example, an illiterate woman, Margaret Schlatterer, whom ran a bakery in the Tiger Bay area, was able to insure her building for $4.000:- and her stock-in-trade for $500:- on 23 rd April 1872. Or Sylvia Bakker who insured her Alberttown house for $1,000 in the same year. Church manses, lodge buildings, pianos, billiard tables, books, furniture and even sets of the drama club were insured from the 1870’s.
The Company was able to retain several millions of dollars in the Colony which would have one abroad. It lent mortgages thus providing individual relief. It invested in local bonds which were to raise money for activity which was of a social nature, as for instance, City Investment Bonds, Roman Catholic Loan Bond, Village Loan Bonds, Parsonage Houses Loan Bonds and Water Works Loan Bonds, One of the greatest boons the Company offered in the later 19 th Century and Early 20 th Century was to provide Guyanese with a source of investment which earned over twice what they would have earned from bank interest. Chapter IV The explanation of the remarkable success of the Company and the positive impact is has made on Guyanese life over the last century and a quarter lies in its structure and management.
On the establishment of the Company, there was a Chairman, a Board of Directors, a Secretary and a Manager/ Surveyor. The first Chairman was Edward George Barr after whom Barr Streets in Kitty and Albouystown are named. The First Directors were: Sir William H. Holmes Knt. George Davson Esq. Adolphus Wm. Perot Esq. John Seys Hill Esq. Hon. Henery Clementson Andew Knox Esq. F.A.R. Winter Esq. James W. Davson Esq. John Drysdale Esq. James Templeton Esq.
F.A.R. Winter serves as Secretary and F.A Conyers was manager and Surveyor. The names of several member of this Board would be found in any list of the “Builders of Guyana” and most made important contributions to the social and economic development of the country. Some are commemorated by Georgetown Street names.
This tradition of having men of great capability and distinction serving on Hand-in-Hand Baords has contined over the last century and a quarter today. Names of historical importance such as Sanbach Parker, Booker, Wieting, Davson, Rickter, Sproston, Manget, and Fogarty, and in later times, as for example, Major Druce Gomes who serves as Chairman for twenty five years and was on the Board for sixty years until he retired on 30 th September 1983. The staff of the Company over the years also had many persons who were prominent in the community life of the country and who spent their entire career with the Company.
The structure of the Company and powers of the Chairman and Board remain much the same today as when the company was founded. In 1868 when F.A.R. Winters became Chairman, the posts of Secretary and Manager were combined in F.A. Conyers who was styled “Secretary”. Winter served as Chairman till 1881 and Conyers as Secretary until 1903. In more recent years, the posts of Manager (General Manager) and Secretary have again been separated. The administrative staff has grown with the expansion of business and there are now several Sectional Managers. Yet, the Company is recognizable the same as it was in 1865.
As Secretary, F.A. Conyers was responsible for the administration of the Company during its first thirty-eight years. He performed has task with excellence and creativity and laid down a firm foundation on which the future Company could build.
The staff of the Company for several years after incorporation consisted of two persons- F.A. Conyers and a Clerk. By 1879 there were four employees- Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Accountant and Clerk. By 1921 there was a staff of five persons- Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and three Clerks. In 1960, there was a staff of sixteen including a Janitor and Messenger at the Georgetown Office and three at the Berbice Office. The total staff in 1990 numbers one hundred and twenty at the Georgetown Office, twelve in Berbice and three each at the Linden and Essequibo respectively. The Management of the Company from the earliest years has always been interested in using the most modern technology. In the 1870’s, it had establish a telegraphic device by which the Water Works, the Fire Brigade and the Police could immediately be informed of any fire. In the early 1880’s it had its first telephone “one microphonic transmitter and two telephonic receivers and Bell. One set of La Clanche battery cell’s”. It has kept up with the new accounting machines and today it has computerized, its computerization has been done on a contractual basis.
It has always been willing to offer new services and has been acutely conscious of marketing. In the second year of the Company in 1866, for instance, it introduced a $4.00 Premium policy to cater for small householders. Or in 1870, it wanted to lend mortgages but found that its Ordinance did not allow it. It petition for a new Ordinance but until that Ordinance became law, it lent mortgages with Mr.Hunter, a Director, holding mortgages then assigning them to the Company. It has ensured horses and carriages, tramcars, mules, furniture, and merchants stocks in the nineteenth century and has continued to diversify its business. To-day it offers many other types of risks such as travel, plate glass, riot and explosion, personal accident, burglary, cash-in-transit, baggage, group personal accident, contractors’ all risks, products’ liability, and third party liability.
Its marketing has always been conducted with property and a since of responsibility. Despite the diversity of the country due to the vast numbers of immigrants from various parts of the world, it has never, as some North American Company’s have done, tried to capture specifically ethnic markets though management was aware of such possibilities. For example, when Julio De Abreu applied to be a canvasser in April 1930 and suggested that he would be able to attract business from the Portuguese community owing to his connections, the Board did not think this was so important and Julio was not employed: The Company accepted insurance from all the diverse ethnic and social groups in the country without any obvious differentiation. For example, much Portuguese language and certainly not in Standard English, but they were dealt with of course. And so were Indians (though very much fewer) such as Jag Deoh who applied for a mortgage in 1882 and signed in Hindi and together with thumb print.
The Directors and Management was always looking ahead. As early as 1870’s they were considering another Fire Company and in 1882 they were talking of a Marine Company and a Life Company. Some Directors did succeed in establishing another Fire Company – the British Guiana and Trinidad Mutual Fire Insurance Company – in 1880. The new Company was regarded as complimenting the old it was not expected that there would be much competition between them. This was so because Hand-in-Hand had a system of insuring a limited number of risks per block and the absence of reinsurance; it had to exercise strict limitations on risks taken. In the interest of security, therefore, a fair amount of risks had to be declined each year, as for example, in the first half of 1878, $214,000:- was declined against acceptance of $238,910. The new Company would be able to meet this demand of the market and expand insurance business in the Colony. The two Companies from those early years have always closely cooperated and the same persons often served as Directors on both Companies.
Conyers’ idea of a Marine Company has so far not materialized but the Life Company did. By resolution of its half-year General Meeting of January 1891, the Company decided to found the Demerara Mutual Life Assurance Company. The Hand-in-Hand Directorate formed themselves into a provisional directorate and inaugurated the new Company in June 1891. In 1966, it was felt that a new Life Company should be inaugurated to coincide with the country’s Independence. Yet the relationship with Demerara Life was so strong that as late as 5 th May,a mere three weeks before Independence, the Board felt that the two Companies should merge or that Demerara Life should be invited to make a 50% investment in the new Life Company. Eventually, however, the new Life Company was incorporated on 23 rd June, 1966, as an independent and fully owed Hand-in-Hand subsidiary.
Chapter VI Hand-in-Hand was always intensely in every aspect of fire protection. For example, it generally gave honoraria to person who assisted in controlling or extinguishing fires. A typical example was in 1847 when A.W. Perot’s premises, which had insurance with the company totaling $123,000, were saved largely because some crew members of the Indian immigration ship – the Rohilla and Duke of Argyle – joined a number of Georgetown residence to extinguish the fire. The company gave $600, to the persons who helped and approximately $150 to the crew-men of the two ships. Owing to the good fortune and the company’s efforts, loses remained generally low. In the fist twenty-one years of the company’s life, for instance there was a premium income of $2,654,546 but only $356,528 was paid out in claims. The lowest amount paid out in claims in any year was $208. In 1918.
There were three great fires which contrasted with these moderate loses and reach effects. The first was the Werk-en-Rust Fire of 1913 where a lost of $168,000. was sustained, the second was the George town fire of 1945 when the company paid out over $650,000 and the third was in 1962 fire precipitated by riots, when nearly $2,000,000. in claims had to be met. Although in the last twenty five years the company has met claims of much grater magnitude, sometimes running into several million dollars. These three fires stand out in historical importance because of the wide spread devastation they caused, the markedly adverse impact they had on the country’s economy and the catalytic effect they had on the Company.
In the 1945 fire, the Company had never before been faced with losses on such a large scale and it had to confront entirely new administrative and financial problems. Since, owing to the war conditions, it could not receive any of the proceeds of its securities in London; it approached the Colonial Treasure for assistance. It was soon able, however, to arrange a loan totaling $600,000 from the Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays Bank against securities of ?125,000 held in London. In addition, several large claimants such as the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society with a claim for $75,000 and Ferreira and Gomes for $100,000 were willing to loan the whole or sizable part of there claim at 2 ? % 3% interests. With such Funding, the extreme liquidity squeezes which threaten the Company were removed.
A Claims Committee was appointed and the remarkably short period of eight weeks was able to pay all claims. Four positive things resulted from this fire. Firstly, the Company acquires novel and valuable experiences which were to serve it in a good stead in the 1962 fires. Secondly, the cooperation between the British Guiana and Trinidad Mutual and Hand-in-Hand became so strong that there was even talk of amalgamation of the Companies. Thirdly, the population became more conscious of the value of fire insurance and business proportionately increased. And lastly, for the first time, the Company entered into Re-insurance Treaties with overseas Re-insurers. Notably, also, the Company for the first time in its existence decided to pay no profit.
The 1962 Fires occurred on 16 th February as a result of riots. The commercial district was destroyed and panic reigned everywhere. In this very novel and confused situation, the Company sought advice from some of the most eminent legal counsel in the country. The Company’s lawyers wrote the Government indicating that a claim would be made on them for losses but legal opinion was divided on the issue. The opinion of Elliot Q.C of Cameron and Shepherd and the fact that reinsures and adjusters withdrew from any such claims established the non liability of Government. Then, on the advice of J, O.F. Haynes, Q.C., anew type of riot policy replaced the old, making the Company’s risks non equable.
1962 was the first time in its history that the Company paid out riot claims. Thereafter, riot insurance became a norm in Guyanese Fire Insurance. Of the $1,477,720 paid out in claims, $953,567 was met by the re-insurers. There were indications that, owing the heavy losses, the re-insurers would either raise there charges or even cease doing business with Guyana Companies. This was of course, a source of great worries to the Directors. After some hesitation, however, the re-insurers continued business. The 1962 experience gave fire insurance much of its present-day style and content. Chapter VII The Company was very deeply involved in supporting the Fire Brigade and Water Works almost from its establishment. It invested in Water Works bonds and gave regular gifts to that body in 19 th Century. Its involvement with fire protection in both New Amsterdam and Georgetown was deeper and more continuous and on more than one occasion the Company brought pressure on the municipalities to improve on water supply and fighting equipment. It often gave gifts of hose and other equipment, encouraged new techniques and gave honoraria to persons who assisted in extinguishing fires including firemen and police. Nicolas Cox, the superintendent of Fire Engines during the last decades of the 19 th Century, kept in close touch with the Company and in 1971 for instance, he was awarded an honorarium of ?100 for producing a brilliant paper on fire protection in the districts.
During the 19 th Century, the Company arranged for stand and branch pipes to be installed at various business premises and supplied hose. The insurers paid for this service. Polices sentries were also stationed at the various locations and costs were shared by the Company. A permanent fire watch was kept in the Old Post Office Tower until the 1920’s. The Post Office was destroyed in the 1945 fire.
The burden of financially and otherwise assisting the fire brigades fell solely on the local Company since the foreign companies which did business in the colony consistently refused to pay anything towards the brigades. The Administration did not heed the Community complaints and on 5 th June, 1874, the Governor was petitioned and it was pointed out that . . . “they (foreign Companies) collectively derive a handsome income from the business, yet in most cases do not contribute to revenue, even to the extent of an office license; still the Committee proposes that they should be exempt from any taxation for the protection for there own interests”. Despite such irritants, the Company continued to assist in the fire protection and when in 1920 New Amsterdam was trying to raise money to improve its water and electricity supplies both Fire Companies agreed to subscribe to its loan and to present a second fire engine to the New Amsterdam Brigade. Chairman of Hand-in-Hand, A.P. Sherlock however reminded the municipality of the Companies limits: “I would point out, however, that it is not the duty of the Fire Insurance Company to provide fire fighting appliances but rather to fix its premium rates in accordance with the risks involved”.
In the 19 th Century and first decades of the 20 th Century, the Company put up metal plate names with its motto, on every building ensured with it. The myth quickly got about that the fire brigade would only fight fires in those buildings which had the Companies name plate. The myth was quite absurd as firemen such as Superintendent Cox of the 19 th Century fully grasped the nature of fires and knew they must be extinguished wherever they arose. Further, the Georgetown and New Amsterdam Brigades were under municipal control and were in duty bound to extinguish all fires in the municipalities. The myth may have been a useful marketing ploy as many had to fell insure to have protection of the Fire Brigade. Chapter VIII One of the greatest achievements of the Company was the office building. The Company spent its first years in the Royal Commercial and Agricultural Society’s premises in New North Road in the area now occupied by the Bank of Guyana and the Guyana Museum. While there, it acquired Lots 1, 2 and 3 High Street, which in the 1890’s was prime property.
The Directors wanted to build a functional but beautiful building and one which pays for itself in a reasonable time. From the second year of the Companies existence this was noted but they had to defer such a plan until it could be afforded. By the first quarter of 1878, they had completed building plans and had hire builders and ordered the iron work from Messrs P & W Maclellan of Glasgow, Scotland. The chief Concrete builder was David Smith, a Scotsman who was resident in the colony.
The foundation stone was laid on the North East corner of the building on Saturday, 10th August, 1878 at exactly 8:30 am. In this stone was a deposited photograph of the workmen and the foundation work done up to then and a short “history” of the Company by the Secretary, F.A. Conyers. But the building work did not go as smoothly as has been expected and on 27 th November, 1878, Conyers wrote the Directors listing the various pieces Messrs Maclellan had shipped and pointing out the poor quality of the iron work which had laid to delays.
The Directors then engaged Mr. George Strachan, a well-known Engineer to make an evaluation. Strachan presented his report on the 3 rd December, 1878 but it was so slainted in favour of Messrs Maclellan that the Board rejected it and expressed” their regret and confidence was so misplaced that they should now be compelled to order the iron work to be surveyed”. It was later found out that Strachan was an agent of Messrs Maclellan.
Secretary Conyers forcefully indicated the kinds of problems the suppliers had been causing: “The mode in which the work had been forwarded from the makers in addition to the delay in forwarding appears to the Directors to exhibit an entire disregard of the requirements of the builder. For example, some of the first portions sent out were the valley gutter . . . before the main iron work could begin to be erected. The concrete work had been at a stand still since August in consequence of the want of the door and window frames”. . .
R. Allan and Robert Dodds,Engineers, were employed to do the survey. They found a number of faults including the girders being too heavy and they suggested a floral design be placed at the base of each column to replace Messrs Maclellan’s name plates. One name plate was left and it is still at the base of the end column of the northern side. The floral design still exists.
Secretary Conyers then employed contractors by tender to make the necessary changes, and the surveyor’s fees and cost of alterations were changed to Messrs Maclellan. By mid-March 1879, all materials shipped by Messrs Maclellan had received and Secretary Conyers, the Chairman and George Strachan, representing went through the invoice. “Several item changed as extras had been objected to and several required a explanation before the account could be settled”. The Company eventually paid ?264.71 for freight and shipping charges.
The Company moved into its new premises on 19 th June, 1879. The building was immediately recognized by a landmark and one which enhanced the beauty and status of the city of Georgetown. Indeed, the Hand-in-Hand building became as synonymous with Georgetown as the Stabroaek Market and St.George’s Cathedral. The building has many features which are unique: In architectural concept, with its wide and open verandahs, it was not divergent from houses on the sugar plantations. Curiously also,some of its features are reminiscent of the architecture of Freemasonry probably because of its founders of the Company were Freemasons. Its castiron work, with arches, stairs and railings, is rare; its iron frame windows in the glass of which was embedded defensive mesh are most unusual; its majestic iron columns which are both ornate and functional, are particularly outstanding; and its 19 th Century lamps, which once used gas but now use electricity, remind of an ornamentation of a bygone age. The two large lamps with floral designs which are on Savage Street side of the buildings are the survivals of five or six lamps which used to light up around the building are unique. Its ventilation system with its decorative-circulating air vents both preserve the wood and cooled the building. Little or nothing of the old furniture has survived. There is a hat stand for wet umbrellas which could have survived from the 19 th Century and there is an early Chubb steel cabinet of fairly massive proportions which certainly more than a half century old. The Board room has a dozen caned oak chairs of striking design with a horse shoe table to go with them. On the back of each of these chairs is carved the Hand-in-Hand emblem and motto – Semper Securus. These chairs and table, made by Henry W. Jenkins and Son of No.16 Light Street, Baltimore, U.S.A., a firm registered in 1790 and who styled themselves Interior Decorators and Manufacturers of Art Furniture, have been in use for a century.
The Directors in the 1870’s had projected a building which could accommodate expansion for a century. In June 1879, the Company let three large rooms facing High Street to the Georgetown Municipality while it occupied the other three, two facing High Street and the other facing North Road. And for the next decade the Hand-in-Hand building served as the City Hall of Georgetown as well.
When the present town hall was built and the Municipality moved into its own building, space in the Hand-in-Hand building was much sought after. The Consul for the United States occupied premises in the building for many years in the 1920’s and 1930’s and even earlier. And after the 1935 fire when Royal Bank of Canada was burnt out, the Company was able to arrange accommodation for them allowing Demerara Life Insurance to occupy part of its building while the Bank occupied Demerara Life’s building. The head of Royal Bank, even a powerful multinational, wrote a personal letter of thanks to the Company. Another distinguished tenant was the Bank of Guyana. After its establishment, Horst Bockelman, the first Governor and M.M. Dial who acted as its first Secretary, carried on the Banks Business from the Hand-in-Hand building for nearly a year until its new building was completed.
Over a century and a quarter, as one world expect, the Company has had many peculiar experiences or had done itself many odd things. For example, it was standard practice to defer meetings when the Georgetown Races were held and year after year there would be an entry in the minutes of this type: “As the Georgetown races were fixed for 29 th and 30 th instant it was decided to hold no meeting next week”. (October 1884) . . . Or the General Meeting of July 1871 was deferred, because, as the Chairman said, “someone having tampered with the lock of the Fire Proof Vault it was unable to be got open and all the documents which were to be laid before the meeting were locked up in the vault, it would be necessary to adjourn the meeting to some other day” . . . On the door of that Millar vault which is still in the building, it declares itself” Fire Resisting and Thief Resisting” !.
Or there is the case of Diego Pestano in 1888. He was a policy holder in Albouystown and, owing a vendetta with Joaquin Gomez, wanted to prevent Joaquin from opening a bakery by telling the Company Joaquin would be creating a fire hazard to his property. The Company was therefore expected to use there weights and influence with the Fire Authorities and Town Council to prevent Joaquin from opening his bakery. The Company saw through the ruse and despite Diego producing a petition from the neighbors, he was politely told “The Directors regret that the subject of his letter does not come in the providence of the Board!”
Sometimes the Directors took a remarkable paternalistic attitude to employees. There was a perfectly efficient employee named Thomas Reid who had served for eighteen years. Secretary Conyers recommended he be promoted “First Clerk” fro June 1889. The first clerk was in line for the Secretary ship. The Directors accepted Conyers recommendation but expressed there disapproval of Reid having associated himself with Horse-Racing and they decided “that as long as he remains in the employ of the Company, he will relinquish all connection with training and owing of Race-horses without any reservation whatsoever, and that he be required to give an under taking to comply with the wishes of the Directors in this matter”. A year after Reid was going on leave in the West Indies, in November 1890, the Directors said they “will strongly disapprove of his acting, whilst away, in the capacity of trainer, agent, representatives or caretakers of any race-horses to be entered at any of the impending race meetings throughout the West Indies”. Hand-in-Hand employees in the 19 th century sometimes had to be protected or morally uplifted!
The Company’s staff always had to be on the alert. On 11th October, 1871, three houses belonging to Susanah Jones were damaged and she duly made her claim. It turned out that Susanah was claiming for a building which was not even insured with the Company! From the Company’s policies or claims, a large amount of curious information could be gleaned. Croal Street, for instance, was once called ‘Red Dam” or there was a “ Love Lane “ in Lacytown. The books used by some 19 th Century Doctors not only included the standard medical texts of a time but even a book or two on folk medicine. The goods stocked in the shops not only included many Indian type of spices but imported rice, mauby bark, champagne, port, sherry, olive oil, walking canes, pipes for smoking, oysters and kid gloves. Or sometimes one could find writings which could be material for linguistic research as when on 16 th January, 1871, Manuel Joao Lopez wrote: “The prapparty in the city of Georgetown, Country of British Guiana Nort ? of Lot 30 or 34 Eigh Street, Work-on-Rost with two bildings . . . in fever of Mrs.Manoel de Mendosa a martgag on said Nort ? . . . etc. Or J.P. Santos onced signed his name J.P. Sanctos . . . Very few policy holders would know that there Company was partly responsible for Queen Victoria Statue when it contributed ?50 to the Jubilee Committee in 1887 “for the permanent memorial to be erected in Georgetown to Her Most Gracious Majesty, The Queen” . .
Chapter XI
From the 1960’s the Company began to experience a period of rapid changes which contrasted with the stability which was enjoyed from the 1860’s and the almost leisurely efficiency with which business was transacted.
In the 1960’s for the first time, the Company found itself being drawn into the vortex of politics. This was inevitable as the Colony moved to independence. This new situation required firmness and flexibility and greater social and economic understanding and involvement. The Company has been successfully tide over the risks inherent in such conditions.
In 1970, a new Insurance Law was promulgated to bring greater orderliness to the Insurance Industry and an enthusiastic Commissioner of Insurance, M.M. Dial, was appointed. Each Company had to make certain deposits and Company’s were also required to purchase bonds and to lend mortgages among other requirements. After this Insurance Law came into operation, a number of fly-by-night Companies ceased business and left the Country. Hand-in-Hand and other established Companies welcomed the new streamlining of the Industry.
A Local Insurance Institute was formed to train personnel for the Industry and Hand-in-Hand employees played a significant role in this training institution. Then the Insurance Association which allows the local Companies to discuss the problems and to find solutions was organized. In 1974, the Caribbean Insurance Association was formed so as to allow the Industry to exchange information, confront common problems and have a more efficient and coordinated Insurance Industry, Caribbean-wide. Hand-in-Hand was also a founder member of this Association. A nexus of contact was also established with the Insurance Industry world-wide when senior members of staff attended international conferences.
In keeping with modern business trends, the Company sometimes sought expertise outside itself. For example, several members of staff have attended training programmes conducted by specialist organizations; or, in the 1980’s it enlisted the help of the University of Guyana in its Marketing Research.
From its early years in the 19 th Century, Hand-in-Hand has always made donations to social and charitable efforts. Today it gives bursaries to scholars, assists schools financially and has continued to contribute to various charities. Together with the other Fire Company, it presented an Operating Theatre to the Georgetown Public Hospital as an Independence gift.
From the 1980’s, the Company has been faced with three novel problems which no one would have foreseen even fifteen years ago. The first is the sharply raising inflation and declining national economy. This has been accompanied by severely fluctuating monetary values. The end result has been steadily escalating costs.
The second is the persistent dearth of foreign exchange. This has resulted in the Company having very great difficulty in paying for Re-insurance. Re-insurance is necessary both to protect the Company against losses and also to be able to expand business. The Company has so far been able to survive this problem by deft management. The advent of CAMBIO System may lead to some relief in this matter.
The third problem is the rapid turnover of staff which has been affecting Hand-in-Hand as well as all businesses in Guyana. Until the end of the 1950’s when one joined the staff of the Company it was usually regarded as entering a Life Long career. Now, in 1990, there is an average annual turnover of 20% to 25% of staff. This turn-over is largely the result of emigration out of Guyana. The Company has been meeting this problem by progressively improving the pay and condition of work as far as possible and by continuous training programmes The Management and staff are acutely aware of the social and economic situation in which the Company is operating. They fully understand the challenges of the 1990’s and are equipped and prepared to meet them successfully. |
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