T. AND G. MUTUAL LIFE SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21214, 20 December 1930, Page 3

T. AND G. MUTUAL LIFE SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING. FINANCIAL STRENGTH. rJFc 6 ,y as a l al '8° attendance at the ntty-iourth annual meeting of the Australasian T. and G. Mutual Life Society held yesterday in the company's building ln Collins street, Melbourne. The chairman (Mr J. T. Thompson), who moved the adoption of the annual revenue jiccount, balance sheet, and actuarial report, said: — Gentlemen, —I have the honour of presenting the directors’ report and account for the year ended September 30, 1930. INCREASED NEW BUSINESS. The new business written, during the y® ar comprised 20,088 policies, assuring £6,553,128, and £960 per annum of annuiio6o t'! 6 . ordinary department, and 122,100 policies, assuring £5.765,574, in the industrial department, making a total in both departments of 142,188 policies, assuring £12,318,702. Thl total aufn aasure.d exceeded the previous year’s completions' by £98,992. In the accident, department, 1098 personal accident and sickness policies assuring £721,750 were issued, and in addition, 965 policies in the ordinary department were endorsed with accident benefits, assuring £1,138,985. As no part of this large volume of new j in vT SS was P rocu rcd outside Australia and New Zealand, I think you will all agree tha£ the result was entirely satisfactory. ;

A* a matter of general interest, 1 have again bad an examination of the new busnet's figures made, for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent existing policy-holders contributed to the total, and °P t of 142,183 new policies, 49,687. or more than onAthird of the total number, were issued to persons already assured with the society. That nearly 60,000 policy-holders should, as the result of their own personal experience, give such practical proof of their satiatactory connection with the society as to take put additional assurances is very gratifying. This- should encourage others who have not yet made adequate provision for themselves and their dependants to do likewise. I am pleased to s.ay that this new business success has been accompanied by « reduction in the expense ratio. INCOME GROWING.

The income continues to grow, and is steadily approaching the £4,000,000 mark, the actual total being £3,856,035, comprislnK Inc °me from premiums £2,987,893, and £868,142 from interest. The increase of income over the previous year’s figures was £232,146.

LARGE PAYMENTS TO POLICYHOLDERS.

W* now come to some of the important itenu of outgo, the first being the pay P°j«cy-holderß, amounting to £1,507,239. _ The most notable variation compared with the previous year was in deatn claims, which showed an increase In tba ordinary department of £40,728; to some extent explained oy the. moderate sum paid away in 1929, This increase need not cause any concern, as the law of averages affecting the rate of mortality sx'&r* ° f . yet * ra » ® nd ia tut little influenced by fluctuations which are bound to occur from year to year. After .• assurance society is really an institution of trust existing for the purpose of safeguarding the funds of policyholders, and of meeting eventually these claims under policy contracts, the pay ments for which go a long way in alleviating distress in the community.

ASSETS WELL PROTECTED The assurance funds which have acoufrom i^ e i ® xoea « of premiums and interest over all claims, expenses, and other outgo amount to £15.495.985, the increase for the year beingf which is exceUent progress The whole of these funds is held on behalf, of the policy-holders themselves in respect of assurance con7f°?ce; ,f he assets are actually flS.OBS.O!?, including the contingency and an amount held to cover other liabilities. I think that perhaps on this occasion a survey of our investments might be even more interesting to you J?? previous occasions because of the present financial depression, as a result of which many people have suddenly found a that this society’s in£fS. t 8 have , n # suffered at all from the transactions of the Stock Exchange It may not be common knowledge that this S a nd e a^i!fl B pre f oluded - b 7. itf > Memorandum and articles of association from investing in common stocks and shares. Even pre-jclis-r t n l. compansr debentures are prohibited. It has sometimes been felt especially in times of prosperity, that our articles are perhaps rather too restricted, iffr. at an y rate m perilous times such as these no one would question' the wisdom ?! ta £ Be , who , ve re originally responsible for the framing 0 f the articles. The investment of sucli a large volume of/ funds as the society is now safeguarding is subject to the. closest scrutiny of your directors and is, in fact, one of the board’s ?? poi : tant functions. It has always ", aea a r“ °f fbe board tq maintain a standard of investment based primarily on the security of the principal, and the lure s .i. ra f® .°f interest has never =!SFi? d tha ®° cle iT depart from its fi« t J™l.i PUr P oae - haVe been manv financial crises in the world’s history, and it has therefore been the policy o I the board to adhere as far as possible to highC ; aß j-vl eu r it l es , whlch would be likely to stand the test of any financial disturbance. STJr n il y jF am happy position a ? y at . our assets to-day a satisfactorily invested and well protected. We have £10,038,481, or 62.5 per cent., of the total assets in Government and Municipal securities, the safest iorm of investment known to your board A vefy fair percentage of these assets were invested in the Dominion of New Zealand. A sum of £2,826,527 was in first mortgages. These were most carefully chosen; only well-situated properties being entertained as security, and a wide margin being required in each case. The proportion of funds invested in mortgages. 17 per cent., was small compared with the proportion invested by many other companies, particularly companies operating in other parte of the world. The reconstruction of the society’s Sydney premises following the widening of Park street by resumption has been proceeded with, this being the main reason for the increase in the freehold properties account. Policy loans amounting to £1,077,864 showed an increase for the year of £232,714. While the society was pleased to be able to assist policy-holders in need of funds, it lost no opportunity of pointing ©fit that these loans were a debt against the amount of assurance, and as long as they were not repaid were an encroachment on the claim moneys intended in many cases for dependants after the occurrence of death. Borrowers were urged to repay whenever possible and facilities were granted to allow of reductions being made by instalments.

It is pleasing to note that, although the solidity of the assets has been our first consideration, the interest rate has increased to £5 17s 3d per cent, per annum calculated on the mean funds.

During the year under review unemployment continued on an unprecedented scale, so that in addition to granting more than the usual number of policy loans the society found it desirable to make the utmost use of its lien revival system. Under this system over 48,000 necessitous cases were revived by the granting of liens, the policies thus being restored to full benefit.

SERVICES TO POLICY-HOLDERS. Other services to policy-holders have been continued. Por example, the nursintr service resulted in 2D,248 visits to sick policy-holders being made during the year, average of five visits to each patient! This well-organised and efficient service, which is greatly appreciated by policyholders, has an important influence on the mortality rate, thus reducing the amount paid away for death claims. I could wish that greater use had been made of the free periodical medical examination in the ordinary department. Perhaps it is the fear of some latent trouble being discovered which deters people from being re-examined, but this should be overcome, because neglect may have serious consequences and bring upon those whom the policy-holder is most anxious to protect suffering which was perhaps avoidable. We have again provided for extra benefits to aged policy-holders in botn ordinary and industrial departments and to breadwinners assured in the indusfrlal department becoming permanently totally disabled during the current financial year.

ECONOMY NECESSARY. Gentlemen, I have covered practically every item of interest in the accounts. It has been a difficult year, and I am afraid tha„ a little time must yet elapse before a revival of trade can be looked for The society s recently announced contribution to the Commonwealth Government conversion loan was made because the success of the loan was a matter of national importance, but I sometimes think that the salvation of this country lies not so much in Governments as i D the people themselves As individuals we should make a closer study of our problems, especially as affecting our commercial relations with the rest of the world, and we should endeavour to disseminate that knowledge, ihe people cannot be expected to know very much of economic theories but the elementary principles are easily understood. The foundations of economy have been described ae “industry, frugality and discretion." When people learn to be really industrious, frugal in their nabits, and discreet in their ways of spending and of saving, we shall become a happier and more prosperous people. In at least one of these ways the work of the Ute assurance societies has been of real service to the community. There is another way in which we can all help. We can see that as far as possible our homes fire stored with the products of our own country. By giving preference to our own goods, or where they are not procurable, to goods manufactured within the Empire, every person can do something to encourage our own industries. If we face our problems earnestly and stand loyally together, with the interests of our country ever before ua, we need have no fear of the future.

Before I finish I should like to say that the securing of such a large volume of new business last year under very trying conditions is a splendid tribute to the calibre of our representatives in the field. At the same time your directors feel that this response from the insuring public of Australia and New Zealand shows that the T. and G, is regarded as one of the safest avenues imaginable for saving by means -of small periodic premiums. As already explained, the society is dissociated from Stock Exchange fluctuations, and when investing its funds adopts a most, conservative policy so that ultimately the payment of all claims Will be assured, bor these reasons we anticipate a continuance of the people’s confidence in our organisation. Unquestionably the society is in a sound position, and has been able to maintain its bonus scale for another year, but whether returns under policies in future years can ever equal past results depends largely on what taxation is imposed

Iff conclusion the chairman expressed the boards appreciation of the loyal and efficient services of the staff during the past year. The motion for the adoption of the annual report, revenue account, and balance sheet, together with the actuarial re Po r t. was earned unanimously. The retiring directors, Mr R. M’Donald and Colonel C. E. Merratt. C.8.E., VD and the retiring auditors, Messrs A. M'k! Hislop and C. A. Holmes, were re-elected..