The Australian Alliance Fire And Marine Assurance Company , Queen's Rooms, Crawford Street, Dunedin. This company, which was established in 1862, has a capital of £250,000, a paid up capital of £125,000, and a reserve fund of £75,000. Mr. A. E. Kernot is manager for New Zealand, and Mr. A. J. Sullivan, chief agent for Otago.

Mr. Archibald James Sullivan , Chief Agent for Otago, was born in Dunedin in 1867, and was educated at the Christian Brothers' School, where, in his fourteenth year, he gained the highest distinction in the whole of the school subjects. He has been very prominent in athletic circles, and represented his province on the football field, besides doing excellent service for the Dunedin Amateur Boating Club, and the Dunedin Cycling Club. He is a vice-president of the latter body, and has been largely instrumental in working it up to its present position. In 1901, after sixteen years of practical experience with some well known companies, he accepted his present position as chief agent in Otago for the Australian Alliance Fire and Marine Assurance Company.

Commercial Union Assurance Company , Ltd., Corner of Crawford and Water Streets, Dunedin. Telephone 41, Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Manager for Otago, Mr. G. J. Reid. Head office for the Colony, corner of Lambton Quay and Grey Street, Wellington. An illustrated descriptive article about this company and some of its officers, appears on pages 521 and 522 of the Wellington volume of this Cyclopedia.

New Zealand Insurance Company , Otago branch, Corner of Rattray and Crawford Streets, Dunedin. Telephone, 10. P.O. Box, 283. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand; Head Office, New Zealand Insurance Buildings, Queen Street, Auckland. The local offices of this company, which were erected in 1887, consist of a handsome four storey brick and stone building, the ground floor and basement of which are occupied for the purposes of the Otago branch, of which Mr. W. I. Bolam is manager. The company's Southland branch is situated in Esk Street, Invercargill, where Mr. Edward Belton Pilcher is manager. A sub-branch at Oamaru works under Dunedin, and is managed by Mr. James B. Grave. The company's net revenue for 1903 was £424,669; and at the same date its reserve funds, including undivided profits, amounted to £359,448.

Mr. William Isaac Bolam , Manager of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Insurance Company, joined the company's service in 1884, at the head office, Auckland. He was transferred to Napier, and afterwards to Wellington; and, subsequently, he filled the position of manager of the company's branch in Tasmania. Mr. Bolam's biography is given at pages 646–647 in the Wellington volume of this work.

Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation Of London . Messrs. J. S. Hodgson (Governor), H. F. Tiarks (Sub-Governor), and N. Lubbock (Deputy-Governor), and an influential board of twenty-four directors. Secretary, Mr. E. R. Handcock. Head office, Royal Exchange, London. Chief office for the Australasian Colonies, 63 Pitt Street, Sydney. Mr. W. A. Walton, J.P., Superintendent Principal New Zealand agencies; George King and Co., Ltd., Christ-church, Blackburne and Bendale, Wellington, Nevill Newcomb, Auckland, George Froggart, Invercargill, and representatives in all the leading centres of population. Australian offices—head, 63 Pitt Street, Sydney, the Orient Steam Navigation Company; Melbourne, Rucker and McKenzie; Adelaide, Gibbs, Bright and Co.; Brisbane, Webster and Co. This powerful Company, which was founded in 1720, undertakes all descriptions of fire and marine insurance. It has already paid more than £38,000,000 in claims, and has obtained the confidence of its policy holders by the moderate premiums charged, and the promptitude and liberality of its payments when losses occur.

Mr. William Abraham Walton , J.P., the Superintendent for Australasia for the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation of London, was born in 1859, in Liverpool, page 262 where he was educated. He landed in Port Chalmers in 1875, a passenger in the barque “Kedron,” and afterwards entered the office of the South British Insurance Company. After several years' service he joined the National Insurance Company, and in 1892 was appointed Superintendent in New Zealand to the Royal Exchange. After filling this office for five years, Mr. Walton was promoted to the charge of the business of the corporation throughout Australasia, with headquarters in Sydney. It may be remarked that this large company opened its business in New Zealand, before extending to the adjacent colonies. In 1882, Mr. Walton married a daughter of Mr. Job Wain, of Dunedin, and has two sons.

South British Fire And Marine Insurance Company Of New Zealand (Otago Branch), Liverpool Street, Dunedin. Manager, Mr. R. M. Clark. Telephone, 52. Branches, Invercargill and Oamaru. Manager's private residence, Eglinton. Head office, corner of Queen Street and Shortland Crescent, Auckland. The Dunedin office of this well-known insurance company is situated in a three storey brick and stone building erected to the company's order about the year 1877. The whole of the ground floor is used for the public offices of the branch, the manager's room being on the front of the next floor.