H.—2

16

Table 11. Number of Childeen at each Age, with the Difference between the Ages of the Members and their Children. Children. Difference between Ages of Members and Children. Age. Number. Difference in Years. Number of Children. Under 1 year 98 ... 1 and under 2 80 18 and under 23 20 2 „ 3 87 23 „ 28 190 3 „ 4 95 28 „ 33 275 4 „ 5 81 33 „ 38 245 5 „ 6 85 38 „ 43 145 6 „ 7 83 43 „ 48 71 7 „ 8 80 48 „ 53 23 8 „ 9 72 53 „ 58 6 9 „ 10 79 58 „ 63 1 10 „ 11 70 11 „ 12 66 976 976 The receipts and expenditure of the fund for the five years ended the 31st December, 1880, may be summarized as follows: — £ s. d. £ s. d. Amount of fund on Ist January, 1876 ... ... ... 798 17 5 Add contributions ... ... ... ... 715 18 7 „ entrance fees ... ... ... ... 31 7 2 „ interest ... ... ... ... ... 341 17 10 „ other receipts ... ... ... ... 4 17 7 1,094 1 2 1,892 18 7 Deduct benefits paid to widows ... ... ... 489 5 6 „ „ orphans ... ... ... 254 5 6 „ other expenditure ... ... ... 013 4 744 4 4 Bealized assets on the 31st December, 1880 ... ... £1,148 14 3 To this has to be added arrears of contributions, £10 os. 7d., and amount of interest due, £19 25., making the total worth of the fund £1,177 16s. lOd. The rate of interest realized by the fund for each of the five years preceding the date of valuation has been as follows:— £ s. d. Year ended 31st December, 1876 ... ... 811 8 per cent, per annum. „ „ 1877 ... ... 715 10 1878 7 16 7 1879 7 5 3 ~, „ 1880 ... ... 6 2 1 37 11 5 Average of rates ... ... £7 10 3 per cent, per annum. Before placing before you the valuation balance-sheet, we shall seek to indicate the methods pursued by us in carrying out this valuation. (_.) As regards the rate of interest: The rate of interest assumed in all the calculations has been 4 per cent. This rate is much under the rates realized by the managers of the fund during the quinquennium, and great credit is due to them for investing the capital of the fund so profitably; but what we have to consider is not so much the rate that has been realized in the past, as the most probable rate that will be realized on good securities during the next forty or fifty years. Keeping in view the fact that the rate of interest has been declining for some years, also the probability there is that, through the influx of foreign capital, the rate will still further decline, we do not think it would be safe to assume that a higher rate than 4 per cent, will be realized on the total capital of the fund throughout the period mentioned. (b.) As regards the tables of mortality used in the valuation: Seeing that the experience of the society has not been extensive enough to furnish sufficient data on which to base the necessary calculations, and as there are no published tables or definite information obtainable regarding the death-rate at each age in this colony as yet, we had to consider what published table or tables of mortality would be most suitable to adopt for the present valuation. After mature consideration we resolved on adopting the following : — For the temporary annuities to widows, the Manchester Unity Experience 1866-70 Table, and the Institute of Actuaries Hm Table. For the temporary annuities to children, Pell's New South Wales 1860-75 (Females) Table, and the Institute of Actuaries Hm Table.