A SUCCESSFUL SOCIETY.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 47, 24 February 1900, Page 7

A SUCCESSFUL SOCIETY.

THE AUSTRALIAN WIDOWS' FUND LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY (Ltd.). ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS. fTtHE Twenty-eighth Annual Mooting of A Members was held at tho Head Office, 456, Collins-stroot, yesterday, tho Chairman of Directors, Mr. Alexander Dick, in the chair. There was a large attendance of members. Tho Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, said — I have now the pleasure to submit tho -statement of accounts for the year ending 31st Ootober, ' 1889, and in doing bo I wish to taJce the opportunity of making 'a- &w remark^ upqn these accounts, and ' ac to the . position of the Society as indicated by the "AotUarkl Report, a copy of which has been issued to every one of out' members^" In the first place it affords me much pleasure to h» able to announce to you that during tho past year we have again made marked progress in tho amount of the 'new business transacted. In the year just closed, as, mentioned in 'our Report, we'- -have completed a larger new business than 'in any year since 1891. This is a distinct indication that money is more plentiful and (that the financial condition 'of our people a« a whole has been very much improved of late years. We have not been slow to take advantage of the improved state of business affairs. The improvement indicated is still going on, and I may tell you that each one of the three months of this year shows an advance upon the corresponding month of last year., ; In every direction the inigpmef of the Society Bhows an advance. Renewal premiunu, new premiums, and interest all show an increase, and, accordingly, so does the total income. Turning now, to the other side of the accounts you "will notice that we have paid no less than £117,6*0 Is 4d to our members during the past year, while we have, at the Bame time, added £57,865 ,10s 8d to our accumulated funds. These two items amount to £175,505 12s, while the total premium, revenue, including consideration''money received for annuities granted, amounted to £161,602 14s 3d. We have, therefore, defrayed the entire expenses of management out of interest, and had a large sum left over to add to the accumulated funds, which at the close of the year amounted to £1,368,770 2s Bd. You were informed last year that we had just closed one of the most profitable years of our- experience, and I am glad to be able to express myself in similar terms regarding the year the accounte of which are now before you. No one familiar with and able to dissect the figures in our revenue account can fail to come to this conclusion upon general grounds. But exactly how we stand oan only be ascertained by^ an actuarial valuation of our liabilities _ under existing contracts, and at this period of our quinquennium, when three years are behind us and only two more years have to pass before our next distribution of profits, it has been thought desirable to place before you something more than a mere general statement that things are progressing in a thoroughly satisfactory fashion. You have accordingly been put in possession of a definite report by oui 1 Actuary sotting forth how we stand, and in this report there is a great deal more than meets the eye of a casual reader. We have at all times devoted our best judgment to the consideration of tho question of how best to conserve the interests of the Society as a whole, and it is especially when an actuarial valuation has to be made that questions of a very important nature have to be dealt with. In 1886 we, for the first time, placed our finances upon the basis of a pure Jremium valuation. TWhat this is exactly need not describe to you — suffice it to say that it meant a large addition to our reserves. In 1891 a Btfll further advance was made in the direction of strengthening the actuarial basis of our reserves, which were then described by The Insurance and Banking Record as being upon the "severest basis known to actuarial science." In 1896 we still adhered to the basis adopted in 1891. The public has not been slow to appreciate the magnificent nature of the security thus afforded by the Australian Widows' Fund, and this is best evidenced by the increase in new business and tho decrease in surrenders and forfeitures — two of the main causes of the increased revenue to which I have already referred. But financial affairs have not Btood still during the past three years, and our Society must be prepared to march with them if it is to retain the right to olaim that it confers upon it* memDers that absolute security which is even more essential in a life assurance society than in any other class of financial institution. For what reason does a wise man assure his life? Is it to get bonuses or to get life assurance? We p\ace life assurance first and the other second, and it is the only sound system of •finance. Our Actuary tells you, inter alia, that the valuation has been made upon the Hm. table with 3£ per cent, instead of 4 per cent, interest as heretofore. Even after this stringent valuation a surplus is shown for the three years of £63,367 4s 9d. You may think that a reduction of £ per cent, in the rate assumed in the valuation is a trivial matter, but I must ask you to bear in mind that it refers to contingent obligations amounting to nearly five millions of money, and it is i per cent, per annum for the remainder of tho continuance of existing contracts. What it costs to take the step I oannot tell you exactly, but our Actuary assures me that the difference between the valuation he has now made and one on the same lines as that -made in 1896 is not far short of £40,000. Can you want any better proof of the success which has attended our Society during the past three years than that in these three years we have been able to transfer this large amount to the strengthening of our reserves, and at the same time to show the large surplus which is announced in our Actuary's report? But, gentlemen, make no mistake about the matter — our reserves are great, but not too great. We are fortunate in having had such a profitable experience as to enable us to take the step just referred to in good time. Taken it must bo. The longer such a step is delayed the more it costs, and a further shrinking in the rate of interest earned would make it all the harder. We have taken it, and our Society is accordingly to-day in a sounder and more solid position than ever before. With good fortune we hope to bo able to announce to you at the end of tho quinquennium that not only in point of the sufficiency of our reserves we occupy a place in the .front rank, but that the reward of patience and perseverance is ours, and that the surplus available for distribution by way of reversionary bonus is such as to afford you full satisfaction. I cannot close without reading an extract from The Insurance and Banking Record, which last month dealt with our affairs: — "The accounts of the Australian Widows' Fund for the twelve months ending 31st October, 1899, indioate that that Society has again made very marked progress. . . . Three years of the current quinquennium having now elapsed, the Actuary has prepared an interim report as a preliminary to the distribution of surplus being carried out at the next quinquennial valuation, on a 3£ per cent, basis, instead of upon a 4 per cent, basis as hitherto. His report . . . shows that the poet three years must have been of a very profitable nature, for they have enabled the Widows' Fund not only to take the important step of reducing the rate of interest assumed in the actuarial valuation of tho whole of its existing business to 3£ per cent., but, after doing so, to show a surplus over all liabilities equal to double tho amount distributed at the close of the previous quinquennium. There is accordingly every prospect that at the next quinquennial distribution of surplus the* members of the Widows' Fund will begin to reap the reward which is the just due of any life insurance society whoue reserves and financial resources are steadily built up until I they attain the position now arrived at by j the Australian Widows' Funrl. The management of (he Widows' Fund dceevvp j warm commrn'Jation for tho detcrtninni tion ?iul skill they have displayed durlr.p a scr.'es of years in making the basit; of