NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 5, 7 January 1929, Page 11

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION.

(Extended Report by Arrangement.)

SUCCESSFUL YEAR REPORTED.

New Business Record.

The annual general meeting of the National Mntual Life Association of Australasia, Ltd., wae held at the association's offices, Collins Street, Melbourne, yesterday. The chairman of direct ore (Sir J. McFarland) presided. In presenting the annual report and balance-sheet, the chairman said: —

"Before dealing with the ordinary business of the meeting, I have to refer with great regret to the loss the association has suffered since our last meeting through the death of two members of the board. Mr. Stevenson Fraser had been with us for less than a year. His intimate knowledge of pastoral affairs made him a most useful director. Mr. George Swinburne was an old friend of the association, and he always took a keen interest in its welfare. Not only at head office, but also at the branches which he visited, his friendliness and enthusiasm were a great encouragement to our officers. His wide experience and shrewd judgment were used unreservedly in the association's interests. "The members are to be congratulated on our having obtained the services of Mr. Herbert Brookes and Sir Brudenell White to fill the vacancies on the board. A Tear of Progress. "The report which we present to-day shows that the association made very good progress durrflg the past year. "We issued new policies assuring £9,807,845. This exceeds by more than a million and a half the largest amount issued in any previous year. New business is essential to the well-being of a life company; it enables us to introduce selected young blood into the body of our members and thus to keep it healthy and vigorous. We have shown a practically continuous increase in the amount of new business in each of our annual reports. Ten years ago the amount was £4,320,000; now it is over £9.800.000. This large increase is not peculiar to our association. Throughout the Englishspeaking world people seem to be awakening to the benefits of life assurance, which has been described as the only means that has yet been devised whereby a man may become a capitalist immediately. It is estimated that during the last 20 years the amount of insurance in force per head of the population has baen trebled. New Business. "But a large new business is not in itself proof of prosperity in a life company. It must be shown that the new business is not merely ephemeral, but that it is being renewed from year to year. Our record shows that ten years ago the premium income was £1J358,000; this year It is £3,381,000. "It muet be shown ateo that the business has been conducted economically, that the lives assured have been carefully selected, and that the funds have been properly invested. "In the report now submitted you will find information on all these" points. Allowing for the cost of the new business, which is generally assumed to be ten times the cost of renewal business, the ratio of expenses to our premium income during the year Is 7.07 per cent. Our mortality experience has been very favourable. The mean amount of risk during the year was £74,968,000, and the expected death claims according to the tables of mortality on which our premiums are based amounted to £1,265,000; our actual claims were £732,784, or only 57.9 per cent of the amount expected" and provided for. Interest on the invested funds, after deducting taxes, amounted to £1,549,048. which ie equal to £5 10/11 per cent of the mean funds, or £2 0/11 per cent more than the rate of interest assumed on our calculations. Funds Strengthened. "The assurance fund was increased as the result of the year's operation bv £2,441,176, and stood at the end of the year at £29,147,329. 'The manner in which the fund is invested is shown In the balance-sheet. You will see that our holding of Government and municipal securities was increased by some £171,000, and now amounts to £11,204,000. Loans on mortgage were increased by £880,000, and loans to members on "the securitv of their policies and collateral security "were increased by £1,015,000. These are the principal changes in our investments. "I think you will agree with me when I say that the year has been a most successful one in every respect, but the association is so firmly established that we look upon the past results as onlv an indication of still greater things to come. When we have recovered Ifrom the effects of the catastrophe which fell upon the world in 1914, still further developments in the business of life assurance may be expected. There are manv fields still unexplored, or only partiallv developed. The system of group insur-

ance i 3 still in its infancy in Australia, and there are great possibilities in this class of business. It will help to introduce a new spirit of good will into our industrial relations and will have an important influence on our economic conditions.

"The unique character of mutual life assurance business as conducted by the association and other mutual companies is not appreciated by our politicians. Our sole object is to supply the benefits of insurance to our members at actual cost price. No profit accrues to anvbody from our transactions, and yet our needy Governments are seeking to tax us as if we were trading companies. In its attempts to find a basis for taxation the Federal Government proposes to tax us more severely than an ordinary trading company. It intends to tax us on our interest, which 5? an e??ential part of our revenue. It is equivalent to taring a trader on his turnover. The Federal tax i≤ equivalent to a deduction of about £1,000.000 per annum from the amount assured under policies in Australia. Our claim for exemption is very strong, and we do not de-pair of beinc able to convince our politicians of the error of their ways. Sound Management. '•I desire to our be*t thanks to the staff for its loyal service during the year, and especially to the new business men. who have contributed largelv to the year's result*. This meeting is unique in that we have with us Mr. H. W. Meyers, our manager in London, and Mr. N. V. de Kock, who is in charge of the association's business in Capetown. On my last visit to England I was proud, as an Australian, to see the position the association held, alongside the large English companies and to find, that we can so successfully compete with them. This is largely "due to the efforts of Mr. Meyers. Mr.'de Kock has been in charge in Capetown onlv six years, r>ut In that period he has doubled the business there. '"Certificates for bonuses added to policies as at September 30, which represent a return to the members of the of premium paid during the year in excess of the amount which was required to provide the benefits under their policies, will be distributed on March 1 next." The report and balance-sheet were adopted on the motion of the chairman, seconded by Mr. T. A. Rumslev. The retiring directors. Sir Robert Gibson, Sir D. Orme Masson, Sir Brudenell White, and Mr. Herbert Brookes, and the retiring auditors. Messrs. W. il Jarvie and H. C. Tudehope, were reelected. New Zealand directors: 0 S Watkins, Esq., J.P.; J. M. A. Ilott, Eeq" J.P.; W. S. Bennet, Esq. General manager for New Zealand, F. W. Nicholson J.P. District office, 41, Shortland Street! G. E. Howard, district secretary. Dalgety and Company, new business agents. Local district and travelling agents are maintained throughout the Dominion.