Page 25 Advertisements Column 1

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31863, 16 December 1968, Page 25

typewriters portable and standard •OLYMPIA • BROTHER • ROYAL A COMPREHENSIVE RANGE FROM $65.00 ltd PRINTERS STATIONERS OFFICE FURNISHERS Cnr. Colombo &Tuam Streets Phone 64459

NEW ZEALAND COMPANY’S SPECTACULAR GROWTH 40 YEARS BUSINESS REVIEWED BY MR F. H. HARRIS CHAIRMAN OF DOMINION LIFE ASSURANCE. Gentlemen. It give* me great pleasure to move the adoption of the 40th Annual Report And Accounts of the Dominion Life Assurance Office of New Zealand Limited for the year ended 30th September, 1968. Pie year 1968 marks e further milestone in the remarkable growth of your Company. Forty years is a relatively short time in the history of a life assurance company but in this period the Dominion Life Office has firmly established its present standing in the community and is able to compete on better than equal terms with the older established overseas life companies operating in New Zealand. From small beginnings in 1928 the Company has grown steadily in spite of having to weather, within its first twenty years, the depression of the early thirties and the Second World War. Some idea of the outstanding progress made by the Company can be gauged from the following figures which show the results attained by the close of each of the four decades. Decade Ended Sums Assured in force Tefal Asset* 1938 $ MM. $ 0.6 M. 1948 $ 18.7 M. $ 3.9 M. 1958 $ 69.5 M. $15.4 M. 1968 $320.1 M. $57.7 M. These figures illustrate the trowing confidence New Zealanders are displaying in a New Zealand company. As I .personally look back over mor* than thirty years of association with the Dominion Life, I see a saga of remarkable progress and achievement of which any Company would be justly proud. The year just ended is the first for twenty years in which the new sums assured written during the year have not constituted a record figure, in common, I believe, with most other life assurance companies operating in New Zealand we have felt the affects of the economic difficulties and uncertainties that were besetting our country earlier this year creating conditions that made it more difficult for our representatives to complete new business. This has also been the first full year we have experienced since the change to decimal currency and we have found among our clients a reluctance to commit themselves to new policies twice as large in dollars which they would formerly have completed in pounds. These factors have had an adverse effect on our new business writings. Your Directors have been conscious of th* continuing need to watch expenses, and I am happy to report that at a time of rising costs throughout the community we have by careful management been successful in reducing a number of expense items so that our expenses of management for this year are $27,313 less than for last year. Your Company has consistently adopted a policy of endeavouring to assist its policyholders with mortgage finance. This has resulted in your Company having 57.6% of its total investments in mortgages—a greater percentage than any of its principal competitors Throughout New Zealand monies have been loaned on houses, flats, farms and commercial properties. This compeny hes always tried to assist in the development of New Zealends agricultural resources by lending to the farming community. with the result that the percentage of our total funds invested in farms is over twice that of the other life companies combined. This principle of giving first preference to policyholders in the distribution of mortgage finance has been widely appreciated. The rapid expansion in the Company's business has necessitated more adequete accommodation for our various branches, and we are at present engaged in an extensive building programme. A new building in New Plymouth Is nearing completion, a contract has been let for a major office block in Whangarei. our architects are at present preparing plans for the erection of office buildings in Gisborne and Palmerston North and an existing building was recently purchased in Wanganui. During the year the Company has moved into new offices in Invercargilt, Misterton, Levin and Rotorua. Your Company has slways recognised the value of mechanisation in the performance of routine office duties and was one of the first life assuranc companies in New Zealand to install punched card machines. For a number of yean we' have been endeavouring to obtain an import licence in order to upgrade this equipment and I am now pleased to be able to state that the Customs Department has recently notified us that an import licence for a computer is to be granted. This will ensble the Company to continue to give the efficient servic* to its policyholders that has always been its dim. I should like to refer briefly to th* retirement of two senior executive officers of the Company during this past year. In April Mr G J. Stevenson retired as General Manager after 39 years service. Mr Stevenson was th* longest serving staff member and joined the Company as it* Accountant shortly after its inception. He had the unique expeflsnee of preparing the Company's first balance sheet and subsequently held th* position of Secretary and later General Manager. Appropriate tribute has already been paid to his long and valued servic*. Two months earlier the Manager Administration, Mr R. J. Quinn, M.C.. M.M., retired a* a result of ill health. He had been with the Compeny for over thirty years and had a distinguished war record. His early retirement was particularly tragic as a few months later his wife and he both died within two weeks of each other. During the post year the Company's Actuary attended the 18th International Congress of Actuaries in Munich and while overseas also took the opportunity to study life assurance trends in other countries. At the same time the Agency Manager visited the United States and Canada and attended two courses on sales marketing. The greeter breadth of experience and information gained from such courses ensures that th* Company maintains it* position in th* forefront of th* life assurance industry in New Zealend We live in an eg* of change end development end concepts we held even a few years ago are being rapidly outmoded. Competition in most industries is much keener than it used to be and the organisation that does not recognise these winds of change and is not prepared to face altered circumstances will quickly find itself trolling the field. Your Company is conscious of these needs and because of th* progressive outlook it hes t am sure that all associated with it need have no fears for the future. Finally I wish to pay a sincere personal tribute to my fellow directors, th* Management and the staff. It hes been a privilege end pleasure to be associated with so many who have contributed to such a result by the Company’s 40th year of operations.