The authors review the Life Tables published in connection with the 1931 Census of Scotland.

They discuss the suitability of the enumerated population as a reliable index of the mean population to which deaths in the three calendar years nearest to the census date should be related, and explain the steps which were taken to obtain a more satisfactory representation of the true exposed to risk at periods of life when the census population was obviously unsuitable.

The methods used for the graduation of the crude data are explained. Comparisons are made of the mortality of the two sexes and in regard to varying marital status. Further figures are given showing the relation between the mortality shown by the more recent tables and that exhibited by earlier investigations. The mortality in various parts of Scotland is exhibited and the death-rates in the country as a whole are compared with those found in other parts of the United Kingdom.

The question of the most suitable function for use in comparing national life tables is considered and the popular misconception of the true meaning of the “expectation of life” is discussed.

The standard on which the currency of this country is based is of importance to actuaries on account of (a) its bearing on the future real value of the currency in which life assurance contracts are made, and (b) its influence on the relative values of various currencies as affecting investment policy.

The advantages of the gold standard and the assumptions underlying it are examined, and it is shown how the validity of these assumptions has been undermined by the gradual development of various factors. It is suggested that there is little ground for anticipating that the presence of these disturbing factors will be temporary.

The present monetary position and the greatly changed position as regards the world's gold supplies both in amount and value are discussed and the case for the readoption of the gold standard is outlined. Two types of modified gold standard, (a) a partial gold standard, and (b) a managed gold standard, are considered.

The difficulties of a managed standard and the limitations of a common standard are reviewed and several conclusions reached.

The Paper shows :–

(a) That if valuations are made using assurance factors taken to two places of decimals only, it is possible by means of a simple modification to bring out results varying inappreciably from those obtained by the standard methods and that such valuations can be made entirely by summation.

(b) That the process, which enables multiplications to be dispensed with, can be extended so as to be applicable to valuations by factors taken to three places of decimals.

It is also shown that a relation found to exist between net premiums at different rates of interest can be employed, in conjunction with either of the foregoing methods, to estimate the effect of changes in the valuation rate of interest.

Towards the end of Mr. Brown's term of office as President I submitted to him the Table which appears in the appendix to this paper asking whether he thought it of sufficient interest for publication in our Transactions. Mr. Brown replied by inviting me to go further and write a paper for the Faculty on the subject of Investments using the Table as an illustration of past history. Later our present President supported this idea and the notes which I now have the honour to submit are the outcome. Apart from the fact that I dealt with the history of Life Offices' Investments at some length when addressing the Students' Society a few years ago, it seemed to me that something more than a historical survey was desirable. There are few papers in our Transactions dealing with Investment Policy and this was the subject on which I decided. I think that the correct prelude to a discussion of Investment Policy is its own history, and so I give in Part I of this paper a very short general survey of the years from 1871 to 1935. The Table in the appendix will give information additional to what is contained in my remarks to those who wish to go further.

The Paper deals with the mortality experience of lives assured under Temporary Assurances with British Offices and refers briefly to previous investigations.

Particulars for approximately 30,000 policies were obtained and mechanical methods of sorting and tabulating were used.

Tables are given comparing the actual deaths with those expected by the A 1924–29 table for Temporary, Decreasing Temporary, and Convertible Term Policies, each subdivided into “medical” and “nonmedical.”

The object of the paper is to determine the extent to which the differences between the ultimate rates of mortality for the whole life and endowment assurance classes are attributable to class selection.

The effect on the ultimate rates of mortality of the different distributions of the exposed to risk in the two classes is examined on the basis of common “select” rates of mortality derived from the combined experience.

While the effect is found to be appreciable, there remains a substantial proportion of the differences between the actual ultimate rates of mortality unaccounted for, and the conclusion is reached that this unaccounted balance constitutes a measure of the effect of class selection.

Graduations of the separate class experiences with reference to the official combined rates are given in the paper.