NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20917, 6 January 1930, Page 5

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE.

SIXTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. Outstanding events in the "history of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia, Ltd., were outlined by the chairman of directors (Sir John MacFarland) at the sixtieth annual general meeting of members, which, was held at the head office of the Association on December 18, 1929. Sir John MacFarland traced the rise in the amount of assurance fund from 1869, when- the association was established as a mutual institution without any capital, until to-day, when its assurance fund amounts to £31,547,594. PROSPEROUS YEAR. In moving the adoption of the directors’ report and balance sheet, the chairman said:— The report that you have before you contains the particulars of a prosperous year of business. The new business transacted was £9,868,350, which is the largest amount written in any year. . The ordinary annual premimli Income was £197,000 greater than the amount received in the previous year. The net amount of interest received, after deducting £125,677 paid for rates and taxes which is £73,261 more than the amount paid for rates and taxes in 1928, is £1,608,374, and this is equal • to £2 6s per cent, of the mean funds in excess of the amount that we assumed in our calculations the funds would earn. The amount added to the funds during the year was £2,400,264. OVER £2,000,000 PAID TO POLICYHOLDER. The amount paid for death claims was £815,860, or £83,076 more than the amount paid in 1928; but the mean amount at risk has increased from £<5,000,000 to £81,000,000. The amount paid is only 59.7 per cent, of the expectation. It represents an average amount of £628 a policy; but the individual amounts paid range from £IO,OOO to £l4. It will be seen that our business is not confined to any one class of the community. The amount paid included £173,966, which had been added as bonuses. Of the 1544 policies under which claims were paid 110 had been in force for less than two years, and of these 59 had been in force ' for . less than a year. Most of these claims were due to accident or causes that could not be foreseen. The average duration of< all the policies was I®, years and 11 months. '■ The amount paid under endowment assurances matured was £654,623, which includes £177,000 bonus additions. Other amounts bring the .total paid to policyholders or their representatives to £2,093,781. ASSURANCE FUND OVEBt ! ie association on ust 20, 1869, and it has therefore pleted its sixtieth year. As a purely mutual association it started without any capital; at the end of the first five years, after' paying expenses ot every sort, an assurance fund of £15,464 had been accumulated, and after setting aside £3OOO as a reserve for unforseen contingencies. £3098 was divided amongst the policy-holders. This wonderful result was made possible only by the strict economy which was entorced by the founder (Colonel j. „\i. Templeton), and by his self-denial. It took 21 years to accumulate the first million pounds of funds, but those were the years in which the foundations of the association were laid securely. At the end of 47 years the assurance fund amounted to £10,090,000. The second £10,000,000 took eight years to accumulate, and the third £10,000,000. or rather £11,500,000, have been added in the last five years. During the 60 years the association has received in premiums £44,272,000 • it has returned to its policy-holders in the £iwm«7°;L,, 1) ° nuses tbe equivalent of £1.1,807,000 in cash. The interest received from the investment of the funds amounts to £18,845,000 after deducting more than £787,000, . which has beeS P for taxes. It has paid under its policies £27,314,05o, and the assurance fund now amounts to £31,547,594. This fund is the property of the policyholders, who numbered more than -00,000 at the end of the financial year, and it is administered solely for their benefit. The association may be described as a partnership whose only object is to do its best for all its members. The results which are now presented to yon are due in a large measure to the services of the officers and agents in all the branches of the association’s organisation. We have a very loyal stan, and they have worked very efficiently during the year. . Sir Robert Gibson seconded th.e motion winch was agreed to unanimously. * Sir John MacFarland was re-elected director and Messrs W. M. Jarvie and ii. u iuaehope were re-elected auditors. [Published by arrangement.]