E. —8A

2

4. During the triennium under review the constitution of the fund was modified by legislation, the most important alterations being covered by the following extract from the twenty-first annual report of the Teachers' Superannuation Board : — " Under the provisions of section 29 of the Finance Act, 1925, the value of a residence or board and quarters provided, or an allowance paid in lieu thereof, is now to be taken into account for the purpose of computing contributions and retiring-allowance. The new provision applies automatically to all who join the fund on or after the Ist October, 1925, but does not apply to those already on the fund unless they definitely elected that it should so apply. Upon election, back contributions with interest became payable on any house allowance, &e., received in the past period of membership. In the case of annuitants making the election, the allowance is recomputed as from the date of retirement, and it can be readily understood that in many cases the arrears of allowance due to such annuitants would largely exceed the arrears of contributions and interest due by them. Under the 1925 Act the time allowed for the making of the election closed on the 31st March, 1926, but under section 32 of the Finance Act, 1926, the time was extended until the 31st March, 1927. In all, 1,124 contributors and 374 annuitants have made the election, the increase in retiring-allowance in respect of the latter being at the rate of £7,750 per annum. " Under the provisions of section 38 of the Finance Act, 1926, the Board can now allow contributors who served with the Forces in the Great War to count service prior to the date on which membership commenced. A considerable number of ' soldier teachers ' have taken advantage of this provision, paying into the fund the equivalent of contributions for the additional period of service admitted, with interest thereon." 5. The contributions and benefits provided by the Act, together with statements showing the progress of active membership, discontinuance of membership from various causes, the progress of pensions for each } 7 ear, and the pensions granted since the previous valuation date, with the ages at which they were granted, will be found in Tables ItoIV of the appendix to this report. The number of contributors at the date of the valuation, with their ages, salaries, and contributions, are shown in Table V. 6. The preliminary particulars required for this actuarial examination have been obtained from cards supplied by the Secretary ,of the Teachers' Superannuation Board—a separate card being compiled for each member who was in the Service at the valuation date or who had died or withdrawn since the inception of the fund —and these particulars form the main basis of this investigation and valuation. 7. The number of pensioners on the fund at the 31st January, 1927, according to the cards supplied, was 1,003, drawing pensions amounting to £166,867 per annum, exclusive of 268 pensions, amounting to £4,399 per annum, granted to widows and children of deceased members. The number of contributors in active service at the Ist February, 1927, was 8,371, with aggregate salaries amounting to £2,308,561 per annum, and paying contributions at the rate of £126,725 per annum. 8. The income and outgo of the fund since the previous valuation were as follows : — Consolidated Revenue Account of the Teacheks' Superannuation Fund prom the Ist February, 1924, to the 31st January, 1927. Income. £ s. d. Outgo. £ s. d. Funds at Ist February, 1924 .. 858,661 18 10 Retiring-allowances .. .. 462,580 13 4 Members'contributions .. .. 364,412 10 3 Arrears of retiring-allowances under Arrears of contributions under Finance Finance Acts, 1925 and 1926 .. 17,616 12 6 Act, 1925 .. .. .. 20,278 12 6 Contributions refunded .. .. 65,514 9 1 Government subsidy .. .. 204,000 0 0 Transfers to other funds .. .. 1,209 13 5 Subsidy, Fiji Government .. .. 546 5 4 Commission .. .. .. 5,381 14 4 Subsidy under Finance Act, 1925 .. 6,108 19 4 Bad debts .. .. .. 355 3 0 Transfers from other funds .. .. 487 0 3 Reserve for doubtful debts .. .. 6,800 0 0 Interest on investments .. .. 172,544 4 1 Other payments .. .. .. 3,835 12 0 Interest on arrears of contributions .. 2,179 13 10 Funds at 31st January, 1927 .. 1,083,155 211 Interest on back contributions under Finance Act, 1925 .. .. 17,229 16 2 £1,646,449 0 7 £1,646,449 0 7 9. The effective rates of interest earned by the fund each year of the triennium were £6 2s. Id. per cent, for 1924-25, £6 Is. lid. per cent, for 1925-26, and £6 Is. Id. per cent, for 1926-27, as compared with an average rate of £5 16s. per cent, per annum for the previous valuation period. Subject always to the security of the investments, the highly satisfactory margin between the rate of interest earned and that assumed in the valuation should be ample under normal circumstances to cover any departures in the fund's experience from the valuation bases. No matter how carefully these latter may be fixed, it is not to be expected they will exactly coincide with the actual futureexperience of the fund. The progressive decline during recent years in the mortality-rates amongst pensioners will, if it continues, necessitate a good interest margin being earned on the funds. 10. The average annual outgo for pensions has increased by about £70,000 as compared with the previous valuation period. While this is to some extent due to an increased number of pensioners, which is the normal experience of a superannuation fund in its early years, it is mainly due to the increase in pensions resulting from the post-war rise in salaries and the addition of house allowances to salary for the purpose of computing the pensions. The effect on pensions of these salary-increases