COMMERCIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 9834, 24 October 1895, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

The amount of revenue collected at tl e Custom-house on »onds cleared to-day for cmsiiMi/itinn wa=£l 129 10s 3d. The general meeting of members of the Colonird Mutual Life Assurance Society, to receive the report of the fourth iictuarisil investigation, was held in Melbourne on the 2nd inst. The surnlus disclosed at the end of the quinquennium amounted to ,£22fi.198. which is equivalent in reversion to over X'4'o,ooo. It was decided to reserve £120,302 for future distribution, etc , and to divide £105,59U at the present, time. A short sketch of the progress of this youthful but energetic societv appears below, and members will be interested in learning that they will receive their bonus certificates and reports at an early date. PROPERTY SALE. Mr Neville Sievwright reports the snle of allot, ment 2, Fitzroy Estate, fronting Cargill road, together with 3-roomed house thereon, to Mr Thomas Walton, at £lf>o. MINING NOTES. Auckland, October 24.—The warden at the Thame* to-day sustalnod the objection of the Kauri Timber Company to the application for a licensed holding on their leasehold at Kuaotunu. holding thnt it was impossible to carry on gold mining without interfering with the company's property, on account of the danger from fires and tho risk to water races by the floating of logs. This judgment is of considerable Importance, as affecting n. large area for mining purposes which was recently pegged out.

THE COLONIAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSUfr ANGE SOCIETY, LIMITED.

.WRRATIVE 01- THE PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY, 1873-94.

The presentation of.the fourth .■piinquennial report regarding the actuarial investigation into the affairs of the society affords an apportunitv to bring before the members a brief retrospect of the history of its progress. . The society was established in 18<3 in Melbourne, and almost simultaneously offices were opened in each of the centres of Australia— Svdncv, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and also in Hobart. . In ISS3 offices were opened in the provincial capitals of New Zealand—viz., Auckland, Christchurch. Dunedin. and Wellington : abranch office had in the meantime been opened in Fiji. In 18S3 the organisation was also extended to South Africa, and an office was onened in Cane Town, followed in 1885 hv an office in Durban, and in 1890 by an office in Johannesburg: Extension "to Great Britain and Ireland was made in 18SS. with offices in London at 33Poultry, nearly opnosite the Mansion House. Since then district offices have been established at Aberdeen, Belfast. Birmingham, Bradford. Bristol, Cardiff, Cork, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh. Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Stoke-on-Trent. The figures of the society for the whole of the t.wentv-one years of its existence have been collated for the purpose of exhibiting to the members what has been done and the extent to which they have benefited. During the twenty-one years there have b»en issued b'9,447 policies, for £21.743.''51. whilst the premiums received during the period mentioned have amounted to no less a sum than £3.619,521, which, with interest amount ins to i7K<i.ni". makes the total receipts for the period £4,385.538. During the period under review the sum paid to policy-holders or their representatives under claims has amounted to £1.089.350. in addition to which the society haR paid in the shape of surrenders, annuities, and bonuses in cash a further sum of £3lß,6ol—representing in all £1,405.951 paid to policy-holders or thei- representatives during the twenty - one years. .. , In connection with the item surrenders, it i=t appropriate to refer to the great benefit that has been derived by members as the result of the provision attaching to policies in the Colonial Mutual whereby in the eventof non-payment of premium they are maintained in force for the full amount assured so long as there is enough surrender value to pav even one quarter's premium. By the operation of this provision more than 15,000 policies have been kept in force when payment of womumis has been omitted through neglect or want of means, and all of which would, under conditions formerly attaching to life policies, have become void. To illustrate forcibly the beneficent effect of the provision referred to. it may be mentioned that in some one hundred cases policies have become claims whilst being sustained in force out of surrender value in the manner alluded to, and the amounts have been paid to the representatives of the policyholders, notwithstanding the failure to pay premiums. Under the old condition of things, in every one of these 100 cases the representatives of th* deceased would have been deprived of all the benefits attaching to the policies. The last quinquennium has embraced a period which has been noted in all parts of the world as a time of financial pressure and general depression. It has consequently been a time during which m'anv holders of life policies must have experienced difficulty in paying their premiums. In the case of policy-holders of this so-icty, much assistance his been given, owing to the regulation regarding the automatic application of the surrender value above referred to. and owing to the facilities granted to policy-holders for obtaining loans on the security of their policies. Even with these aids, it must have been necessary for many policy-holders to make sacrifices in order to produce such a record of perseverance and constancy as is evidenced by the society's figures showing at the end of the quinquennium a membership roll of nearly 33.000, with a total insurance in force of over ten millions and a-half. It may further be mentioned that, of the bonuses »dded to policies at the end of the preceding quin quenniuni, there remained in force at. the enrt of 1891. attached to the policies, no leas than 75 per cent, of the total bonuses added in im>. It would be difficult to find a. more convincing proof than this of the confidence which the members have in the society. • As announced in the directors report, the cash surplus amounts to £226.198 7f lOd, making, with intermediate bonuses paid during the quinquennium, a total of £236,870 9s lOd. Theifunds at tho end of the previous quinquennium (1889) amounted

■■ •.' ' ■'■' ~> ■•'• : ' ■; •'■. '- r ■ - ■ ■■ ,'. v to £1,050,873 lis fld. At the end of the quinquen-; nium now undet review they amounted to £1,793,628 19s lOd, an increase for the period of over 70 per cent. Figures suo¥ «s these can m allowed to apeak for themselves. Investment of the funds of life assurance institutions is always a matter demanding careful and anxious attention on the part of the directors. The events of the, past- five years have certainly not lessened the n«ed for exercising these qualities. At the close of the quinquennial period under review the directors caused a searching and compete investigation to be made into each and all of the investments of the society. After carte' ful review, and in .which they were aided by expert assistance, they decided, as announced in their report, to set. aside a sum of £51,3117s lOd, which they regard ds ample provision for any contingency that can possibly arise. As a matter of interest to the members, a table has been prepared showing the amounts which have been invested on mortgage nnd the rates of interest realised on the various classes and over the whole during the twenty-one years of the society's existence.

BUSINESS OF THE SOCIETY COMPARED WITH BUSINESS TRANSACTED BY OTHER AUSTRALIAN LIFE OFFICES. ■- a

It has been and is the practice of the. society to avoid and discourage comparisons in any way disparaging other offices, ana it may be that owing to the policy adopted in this regard there are some members who do not realise how rapid and well sustained has been the progress of the Colonial Mutual in comparison with other institutions of a cognate character. As a simple way of bringing home this fact, a lab'e is hereto appended showing the total business transacted by each other Australian life office during the first twentv-onc years of its existence side by side with the business of this society. These figures indicate that the Colonial Mutual has transacted a much larger business-than anv of the others in the first twenty-one years; and, while by refraining from mentioning the names of the other offices the policy above referred to is maintained, it is felt to be due to the members themselves that the simple fact should be recorded at this so important an epoch in the society's existence. The directors may be pardoned for feelfhg some degree of pride in being in the position to announce that this, the youngest office, is able on completing its twenty-first year to show a record of bvs'nes.s 73 per cent, more than the office which transacted the next largest business, and over two and a-quarter times as much as the average amount of all the other offices, whilst in premiums and interest the Colonial Mutual has during its first twenty-one years received more than in a similar period of their existence any other two of the Australian offices put together * BUSINESS TRANSACTED IJY AUSTRALIAN LIFE OFFICES DURINO THE FIRST 21 YEARS. OF THEIR EXISTENCE: Sum Total Office. Assured. Receipts. A £5,690,072 £1,172,506 B 9,022,195 1,736,040 C 12,526,273 2,129,214 B 8,726,358 1.751,325 E 11,1 '7,866 2.023,489 The Colonial Mutual ... 21,743,351 4,385,538