A.M.P. SIXTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1910, Page 3

A.M.P. SIXTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING.

DIRECTORS' ACCOUNT OF STEWARDSHIP. SOCIETY'S SPLENDID POSITION. The sixty-first annual meeting of tho members of the Australian Mutual Provident Society was held at Sydney on 13ih May. Mr. A. W. Meeks, M.L.C., the chairman, in moving the adoption, of the report, said that the salient points in the report which they had to present fov adoption that day were : — An increased new business, a rediiced rate of expenditure, an improved rate of interest, and consequently an increase in the rate of cash bonus allotted. The new business in the ordinary department consisted of 19,789 policies, assuring £5,166,653 — (applause) — and producing an annual premium revenue of £168,729 15s l]d, in addition to £82,422 11s lid received for single payments. If the industrial business were added, tho amount of the new assurances would be brought up to £5,858,064 — (applause) — and it was extremely gratifying to the board to be able to announce thai of this vast mass of business no less than 27 per cent, had come from those who were already members of the society. (Applause.) This was, of course, the largest amount ever transacted by the society in a single year. Here, however, he wished to utter a word of warning. They could not expect to be constantly making records, and they would make no special effort (the advantage derived from which would probably be neutralised' by increased expenditure) to raise the figures beyond about £5,000,000. This amount of annual new business would enable them to add to the net volume in force between two and three millions per annum for the next quarter of a century, by which time they would probably be acquiring annually, nearer ten than five millions. (Applause.) The coal strike occurred too late in the year to exercise any effect on the flow of business. Its continuance, however, for nearly three months in the new year, added to the effects of the floods in«! New South Wales and Queensland, might prejudicially affect the business of the current year, and the board would not be surprised if tho amount for 1910J^howed a reduction. Just now, however, every interest in the Commonwealth and New Zealand was progressing favourably, and there was every indication of a prospeious yeaij. He would refer to the industrial department later on. THE DEATH CLAIMS. The death claims, including bonus additions, exceeded those of 1908 by only £26,262, so that the mortality remained remarkably favourable. Endowment assurances matured accounted for an increase of £82,178 over the figures of the previous year, but, of course, this addition was provided for in the valuation of the liabilities, and it was natural that as the age of the society increased the maturing endowment assurances would also increase, and the members would reap the reward of their thrift and foresight in oveT-mcrca-sing volume, 'ihey had again added more than a million sterling to the accumulated funds, which at the end of the year stood at £25,706,429. (Applause.) They were at the present time over millions. Dur- I ing the year the board lost the services v of Mr. J. 0. Fairfax, who owing to a prolonged absence from the State felt it nis duty to resign, and the board accepted his resignation with regret. In the place of Mr. Fairfax they had been fortunate in securing the services of Adrian Knox, K.C. THE LATE SECRETARY. The report announced the death on 7th February last of Mr. R. B. Cameron, secretary of the society, after a service of over forty-six years. Like many more of the society's best officers, ho had known no other service, and thus became imbued with a spirit of devotion to the institution which he served, which peculiarly fitted him to render it mosb valuable service*. His death was deeply regretted by the directors and staff. REVENUE AND MANAGEMENT. The revenue account gave full details of the receipts and expenditure of the year. The receipts exceeded those of the previous year by .about £153,000, while the disbursements and provisions of various kinds were nearly £95,000 more, and this increase was more tha.n accounted for by the payments on account of claims and maturities. The payments for surrenders were absolutely less than in 1908. The taxes were somewhat higher, but they could not help this ; and the commission owing to the increased new business was, of course, a little more. The interest receipts which had been just about sufficient to meet the combined charges for death claims, commission, expenses of management, and taxes, represented a return, of £4 9s 9d per cent, on the meau funds for tho year, an increase of 5d on th? rate for 1908. Fivepenoe- per cent, did not sound much,, but on their funds it means over £0000 a year. .The management expenses, including taxes and commission, represented a rate of 13.66 per cent, of the premium receipts, excluding single payments, which was a reduction of .69, or nearly 8s per cent, on the rate for 1908 : this meant another saving of over £8000 a year. The assets, which were fully detailed in tho balance-sheet, showed an increase of £1,105,561 over the figures for the previous year. In Government securities they had placed an additional sum of about £346,000, while loans on policies had r.bsorbsd nearly £200,000 more, and municipal securities £237,000 more. The item properties acquired by foreclosure had decreased by £118,891. This was owing to the fact that they sold during the year a considerable number of these legacies from the past, and that, as shov;n by the revenue account, they realised a surplus of £13.540 on them. These transactions would .explain the reduction in the reserve held for depreciation from £140,509 in 1908 to £97.631 last year. ' THE NEW OFFICES. In his address last year, the chairman said" he had intimated the board's decision to extend and enlarge the office premises. Some of the audience who happened to pass the office have probably wondered what was going on in the apparently unnecessary destruction of a fine-looking building. Their surprise had been shared by the hoard. They had imagined that their plan of extending the^old building southwards and adding some more floors on top was a simple one to carry out. When they came to touch the building, howevsr,, they discovered that it had been so badly constructed that it was esrentia' in order to secure safety practically to demolish the whole structure. This, of course, would entail a larger expenditure than they had contemplated, but they had faced the situation at once and had included in the sum of £21,984 14s 9d written off office premises, which would be found in the revenue account hufficient to defray this added cost. He had also referred last year to their intention to take steps to consolidate and amend their existing Acts of Parliament. Their Bill passed through the Legislative Council, but it was not reached in the Assembly belore the Parliament prorogued. The beard expected it would become law the next session. THE INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT. The success of the industrial department was now assured. They wouM observe that during the five years for which the department had been running they had issued 8? 215 policies for assurances amount to Jt/2,622,741 10s, and that of these- 45,945 policies, assuring £1,453,

591, were ia force at the end of last year. He was informed that this comparison disclosed an element of stability which was quite unique in this class of business. But outside this gratifying fact they had to notice the valuable aid which the ordinaiy department had received from the industrial agents. These gentlemen List year secured £426,490 of ordinary business. During the fivo years, the industrial agents had secured policies in the ordinary department for sums amounting to £1,3.50.168. by far the greater portion of which it might be safe to assume would never have been reached by the ordinary agents. Tho financial transactions, too, were very encouraging ; the. industrial fund had increased from £1/,921 to £49,336, and the rate of expense had decreased 10 per cent, for the year. As the department had now been in operation for five years, it was thought that the time had arrived for an actuarial valuation of the policy liabilities on a, basis suitable to the business. This valuation disclosed a liability of £40,768, while tho funds wero, £49,335 16s 4d ; and there was a surplus of £8126 Is 2d, which it was proposed to retain to aid in passing to a purely net premium valuation, a- test which was applied by only one office in the Empire, the Prudential of London. It was believed that this would be reached in less Lhan five years. Although the department had been in operation for so short a time, it might interest them to know something of the moi--tality experience among industrial policy-holders. They had accordingly extracted this experience, and found that out of 95,652 years of life exposed to risk of death, the claims had numbered 6G9. The number •expected) according to the table on which their calculations were based was 1544 — (applause) — and, according to the experience of the Metropolitan of New York, the largest American company, it was 1740. They had no means of making a comparison with any Australian office. STRENGTHENING THE RESERVES. _ The results of the usual annual valuation of the policy liabilities wero fully set out in the actuary's report. The process of strengthening the reserves to which he had several times alluded was still being continued, but on the present occasion a further step in this direction had been taken by the adoption of a 3j per cent, rate in the valuation of the non-participating assurance policies. This chemge made no great demand on their resources, and was not by any means necessary far safety, but statements having been mado that they valued a considerable portion of their business at 4 per cent., it was well to make this matter perfectly clear. If they possessed the means for comparison, tho board had no doubt that they would be able to show that their basis of valuation was more stringent than that adopted by any other office in Australia. As a result of the valuation, they were able not only to somewhat increase tho rate of cash bonus, allotted, but also to add £5000 to the contingency reserve. He wished to make quit© clear what this contingency reserve was. It had no connection whatever with the reserve which they thought it prudent to hold to provide against any depreciation in the value of securities; this was met by the reserve of £97,631 3x 7d shown in the balance-sheet. The contingency Teserve was quite outside this, and was held) foT the purpose of meeting any accidental increaso in the norma-l death Tate, and to equalise the raje of bonus which might otherwise in some particular year show a decrease owing to such accidental occurrence. It -was desirable that the bonus should be maintained^at a fairly uniform rate, and this re-serve furnished them with the means of doing so. What he had said justified him, he thought, in claiming that this report was ohe most satisfactory which had ever been presented to the society. The board certainly viewed it as such. MEDICAL CONFERENCE. They had this year taken a new step which thej thought would conduce to the interests of the society. He need not remind his audience how much they depended on the able" body of medical referees who served them for the safe selection of lives, and for the system of assessment of those which were not quite up to the standard. In this important part of tho society's business it was essential that unitormity of practice should be observed if they were to deal j impartially with all proponents. They had, therefore, convened a meeting o"f their ciiief medical reierees in the various Stares, and m New Zealand, and these gentlemen wei'o now in conference in this city. They had no doubt that their deliberations would result in great advantage to the society. Before- concluding, ho desired, on behalf of the board, to express their appreciation of the ability shown and energy displayed by the members of their staff. Owing to the illness and death of the ..^cretarj , very neavy work had fallen,.on tne general manager, and [ the board desired to place on record its i recognition of the untiring zeal he had ! saov/a in the discharp;? of the; additional responsibilities, involving as it had so much close attention to details. It would oe- pleasing for the members to know i that all those occupying responsible posi- j tions had been trained in the society's ! svervice. He must also mention the splendid work done by their canvassing | agents, tc whom they were indebted very largely for the record figures of new business, which appeared in their report, and to wmch he had already raf erred. (Cheers.) THE NEW ZEALAND BRANCH. Mr. A. de B. Brandon (Deputy Chairman of the New Zealand Board), in supporting the adoption of the report, said :—: — It has been a perennial pleasure to the New Zealand Board to send its delegate to the annual meeting of this society with a report, giving evidence of the continuously successful progress of tho society's affairs in the Dominion of New Zealand. The number of policies issued in the ordinary branch during the past year | was 3032, assuring £854,554, and proI during an annual revenue of £26,605 ; to this must be added 4617 policies issued by the Industrial Branch, assuring £171,799, giving an annual revenue of £10,347, and we then have the New Zealand business for the year 1909 showing the issue of 7649 policies assuring £1,026,355, and adding £36,953 to tho annual revenue of the society. Tho New Zealand Board is justly proud of this record, for the underwriting of over a million pounds worth of life assurance among a white population of 983,000 persons is a remarkable per- j formance, and affords the best possible ! evidence of the zeal displayed by tho , society's staff in New Zealand from the • resident secretary downwards, and it in with pleasure that I convey to you this I expression of the New Zealand Board's I appreciation of the efforts of members < of the New Zealand staff during the past year, and their whole-souled con- ' cern for the interests of the society. I Contrasting the annual returns of the | A.M. P. Society in New Zealand with j those of tho New Zealand Government I Life Insurance Department, which is the most formidable competitor of the A.M.P. Society in the field of life insuianco, wo find that the A.M.P. Society has been steadily working its way to the premier position, and we have reason to believe that for the year 1909 once more the new business of the A.M.P. exceeded that of the Government both in the amount assured and in the consequent annual revenue. Tho Industrial Branch has been eminently successful, and the result of only five years' work shows 9206 policies assuring £300,490 with an annual premium i e venue of £18,960.

The total funds on the branch books at the end of the year amounted to £4,799,378, and the income from all sources in ulie ordinary department amounted to £562,678, and the New Zealand Board desires me to say specially that it has the fullest confidence in all the investments and, in some justification for this confidence, is glad to report that all interest duo up to tke olsfc December, 1909, has been paid. There is nothing which would seem to indicate any_ failure in the present geneial prosperity in the Dominion, and we sincerely hope that nothing will ever prevent the people of New Zealand from sharing in the benefits to be attained by joining with their kin across the seas in maintaining an institution which stands out majestic-— a monument to its founders and to its managers.