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Some Notes on Life Assurance in Greater Britain, particularly with reference to the Work and Development of the Native Offices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

Arthur Wyndham Tarn
Arthur Wyndham Tarn
Affiliation:
Westminster and General Life Assurance Association
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Extract

Although a great deal of what might be fairly comprised under the heading to this paper came under discussion last year at the International Congress of Actuaries, I yet venture to submit that, upon so important and comprehensive a subject as the one I have chosen, there is a considerable amount of information, statistical and actuarial, which at that great gathering was not even touched upon. In the first place, the contributions to the Congress, valuable though they were, dealt only with the experience of individual Colonies or groups of Colonies, and the observations of the contributors were limited to particular branches of their subject. Secondly, some of the principal British Possessions, such as India, Canada, and the West Indies, appear to have been entirely unrepresented as regards life assurance among the subjects discussed. It is, therefore, with the object, partly of filling up a few of the gaps left vacant at the Congress, but chiefly of surveying the subject as affecting not merely individual Colonies or Dependencies, but the whole of the British Empire outside our own country, that I have collected and set down these notes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Institute of Actuaries , Volume 34 , Issue 6 , July 1899 , pp. 517 - 561
Copyright
Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 1899

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References

page 519 note 1 J.I.A., xxiv, 373, and xxvii, 161.

page 520 note 1 The figures for 1895 were:

page 521 note 1 All these companies, with one exception, are proprietary.

page 522 note 1 This year witnessed the failure of the Albert Life Office in England, which caused such a sensation throughout the insurance world.

page 523 note 1 A summary of the revenue accounts and new business of these offices, for the year 1886, appears in J.I.A., xxvi, 476. For their present position, see list in Appendix to this Paper.

page 525 note 1 Shortly before this dale, another Victorian company took over the business of one of the two existing South Australian offices.

page 525 note 2 Wealth and Progress of New South Wales, 1896-1897 Google Scholar.

page 525 note 3 Slater—Rise and Progress of Native Life Assurance in India. In his work on India in 1880, Sir Richard Temple observes: “It has sometimes been strongly recommended that the Government in India should undertake life insurance to a moderate and limited extent. The measure was designed for the benefit of the natives, as being calculated to teach them habits of thrifty forethought, and to form ties of the happiest kind between them and the State. Owing to various practical difficulties, and also to objections against interference with private enterprise in this respect, the Government has not yet seen its way to undertaking business of this nature, however desirable that may be on many grounds.”

page 526 note 1 J.I.A., xxiii, 52.

page 526 note 2 All these offices, it may be noted, have long since passed out of existence.

page 527 note 1 Hindoo Patriot, 14 June 1886Google Scholar.

page 527 note 2 Rise and Progress of Native Life Assurance in India. It may be here mentioned that, on last New Year's Day, the King of Portugal conferred on Mr. Slater the honour of a Knight of the Order of Christ, in consideration of his long and laborious services in the cause of life assurance in India.

page 529 note 1 The Assets marked thus (*) were, in 1897,48·6, 20·4, and 10·3, respectively per-cent of the total.

page 530 note 1 One office in New South Wales, and two in Victoria, appear to include among their assets securities of this nature , but the total amount at the end of 1897 was under £100,000.

page 532 note 1 A table in the Australian Insurance and Hanking Record for January 1899, gives the following percentages relating to the average rate of interest:—1889, 6·29 per-cent; 1894, 5·44 per-cent; 1898, 4·82 per-cent.

page 532 note 2 In a Paper read before the same Institute in October last, Mr. Pullar discusses this subject at some length, though without expressing any definite opinion as to the future.

page 533 note 1 At least three Australian offices now employ the HM(5) Table, either wholly or partially. One of these offices states:— “The HM and HM(5) Tables have been specially blended for the use of this society. For the early years of the policy the HM Table only is employed, and for its later years the HM(5) Table. Between these periods the values have been graduated, and lie between the H M and HM(5)values. Such middle period embraces, for over three-fourths of the policies, all durations between three and ten years, while for less than one-fourth of the policies, being a portion of the endowment assurances only, it includes all durations between four and eight years. For assurances on joint lives and term assurances the H M Table alone has been employed.”

page 534 note 1 In one large Victorian office this proportion amounts to nearly 97 per-cent.

page 534 note 2 Companies transacting business on this system were officially recognized in the Dominion for the first time in 1885, when an Act was passed for their regulation.

page 535 note 1 Two companies, not unknown in this country, one Canadian and the other American, helped to swell this total by the sum of $96,791,974. The latter company last year announced its intention of opening branches in Australasia.

page 539 note 1 In 1896 Mr. Teece gave some figures illustrating the results of this system in Ms office, from which it appears that of the policies to which it was applied 80 per-cent were re-instated and only 5 per-cent were eventually forfeited. A similar statement is given in the last Valuation Report of the South African Mutual, the percentages in this case being 41 and 25 respectively.

page 539 note 2 In a letter to the Insurance Record, some years ago, a New South Wales manager stated that he considered the advantages of this system to be very much exaggerated, and that his own office had adopted it only through stress of competition.

page 540 note 1 This system was originated in 1861, by the late Mr. M. A. Black, afterwards to become so much identified with life assurance in the Australasian Colonies. A critical paper on it, from the pen of the late Mr. S. Younger, appeared in the J.I.A., vol. x ; while in vol. xxxi there is a letter from Mr. D. Carment, which deals with the subject from an Australasian point of view.

page 541 note 1 J.I.A., xxii, 255.

page 544 note 1 In the “Canada Life “and “South African Mutual” Experiences, policy years were adopted, while that of the “A. M. P.” follows the Institute method of calendar years.

page 544 note 2 See also a paper on this subject by Messrs. Day and Hollingworth, read before the Insurance Institute of New South Wales in July 1895.

page 545 note 1 Under Section 6A of this Act, it is provided that “a license shall not be granted to a company to carry on the business of life insurance in combination with any other branch of insurance.”

page 545 note 2 Paper on “Life Assurance in Canada”, read before the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh, 11 January 1894.

page 545 note 3 The Insurance Institute of New South Wales has repeatedly endeavoured to induce the Government to legislate on the subject.

page 546 note 1 For the provisions of this Act, see J.I.A., xxvi, 24. In a Paper by Mr. C. D. Higham (J.I.A., xxvi, 325) reference is made to this and to other Colonial Acts in connection with assignments.

page 546 note 2 A draft of a proposed Federation Bill is given in the Australian Sand-Book, 1897 Google Scholar.

page 547 note 1 Delivered before the Birmingham Insurance Institute, 26 October 1894.

page 548 note 1 In his Annual Report for 1893, the Government Actuary at the Cape refers to this system, which he condemns chiefly on the ground that its costliness was not justified by the benefits it produced.

page 551 note 1 At the close of the 1897 session, the membership of this Institute, which had declined from 187 in 1894 to 138 in 1896, had risen to 150.

page 551 note 2 At the close of the last session, the number of members on the roll was 170, in addition to 13 honorary members. It seems, however, to be a source of complaint that the majority of the members exhibit but little interest in the proceedings of the Institute, either by attending or taking part in the discussions.

page 552 note 1 J.I.A., xxv, 250; xxx, 219; and xxxiv, 346.

page 552 note 1 J.I.A., xxvii, 544, and xxxii, 43.

page 553 note 1 The Australasian Insurance and Banking Record for October last contains the following paragraph:—“The letters ‘F.I.A.’, so well known in the insurance world, seem to have a fascination for other professions. Members of the various Colonial Institutes of Accountants appear to prefer to drop their final Colonial distinguishing letter, and to advertise themselves as ‘F.I.A.’ Similarly, an auctioneer and surveyor, with some detached villas to let, advertised himself as an ‘F.I.A.’ Apparently, the Institute of Actuaries' Charter does not protect its members outside the United Kingdom, but the misuse of its titles by non-members is in questionable taste.”