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NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION.

r 49th ANNUAL MEETING. | A SPLENDID YEAR. i The 49th annual meeting of the Na- • tional Mutual Life Association of Aus_- ■ tralasiay Limited, was hdd at 31*1 bourno, on December 31st. - , Newell, chairman of the General Board of Directors, presided. „,~*. B li««t The annual report and J» lan^ sh t^ chairman, in mo* ing the a p the Report and balance-shee , s . "I regret that we have had to rail you together during this holiday season -the first for more than four years that we have had any mc J* ® _: t :~ celebrate with appropnate to receive our report for the financial year which ended on beptenibermh. 'The articles of association provide • that the annual meoting shall be held during the month of December, and we have fcneraUy been able to Present the report before Christmas, but thi* year the mails which contained returns from some of our branches were delayed by quarantine restrictions, and it as possible to compete the acounts m time for an earlier meeting. I hope you will find some compensation the inconvenience of attending in figures that are now laid before you. i "Before we deal , with the ordinary business of the meeting, I place on record our sense of the loss the Association has sustained by the-deaths of two of our branch directors. "Lord Forrest was a member of the "tyest Australian Board from the date of its establishment in 1887. His advice and assistance were at all times at the disposal of the Association, to its groat advantage. "Sir George H. Reid was first a member of the New South Wales Board, and for the last five years of the London Board. He took an active interest m the Association and in many ways helped in the furtherance of its business. . . , , "The fateful August 4th. 19.14, found us near tho end of what had promised to hie a very- successful year, but our new business was immediately affected, and we closed on September 30th showing some £70,000 of new less than m the previous year. In 1915 our staff organisation was seriously affected by war conditions, and the enlistment of many of our most useful officers. The new business dropped to the extent of a further £450,000. In 1916 it recovered to the extent of £107,000! and in 1917 of £270,000. NEW BUSINESS. "From the report that is now in your hands vou will see that during the year that closed on September 30th last we completed £4,320,512 of new assurances and endowments, which was £815j000 greater than the total of the previous year, and £673,000 greater than our best pre-war total. "The income for the yoar, £1,921,574, represents an increase of. £151,378 on the previous year. This is the largest year's increase we have ever had. Most of it—over £103,000 —is due to _ the premiums received on the new business, ; and £48,000 is due to the increase in j our interest income. 1 "The amounts paid to members, £876,989, exceed the previous year's figures by £32,500, and the figures for 1916 by over £100,000. The claims under policies, or amounts payable owing to the death of. policy-holders, £489,851, include £207,088 of war claims, by which I mean claims due to death which was the direct result of active military service. ■ The total of our war claims since 1914 is £561,308, and I, am afraid we have not received the last of such claims, for although fighting has stopped—for which we are afl devoutly thankful —we have not yet realised to the full extent all of its terrible effects. "As most of these soldier policies were on young lives, and had hot been long in force, the reserves held by the Association on their account were small. All such policies that were issued before August, 1914—and they, were a large proportion of the total —were free from all restrictions regarding war service, and no extra premium was charg- i ed to them. The war claims, therefore, . represent a direct tax on the surviving • policy-holders. £2,000,000 WAR BDNDS.

"Notwithstanding the hearv payments to members, the amount added to 'the assurance fund as the result of the year's transactions — £839,848 —is £98,000 more than the amount that was added in 1917, which was our best year in that respect. The directors placed the whole of the increase in the funds at the disposal of the Government by subscribing for war bonds. "Our total subscription to September 30th exceeded £2,000,000, and they have since been largely increased. They are a permanent investment —we have not disposed of any portion of the amount subscribed. As every penny of the funds —which were £11,708,850 at (September 30th last—belongs to the members, each member can claim that he has contributed, through the association to the war funds, and most of us have also, no doubt, contributed directly. "One of the most important functions of the association, and of all similar institutions, is to gather into a common fund the small amounts saved by the members, in order that they may be in- | vested profitably and so used for the common good. In abnormal: times most I of our funds are invested in loans to producers, and we thus help to increase their output and improve the welfare of all. In these times we have not hesitated to haifd our resources over to the Government. We are a commonwealth within the Empire—our more than 130,000 members reside in British territories, and the community of interest which they represent is a not unimportant influence in fosterinjj the unfty of the Empire. "Thn nature of our business is nos yet fully understood by some of our legislators: if they had understood _it they would hardly have taxed our income to the extent of £34,330 during the year. INCOME-TAX. '•'More than half-of this tax, or oyer £17,300, was imposed by the New Zealand Government, by whom we are classed as a foreign company, although oth'e amount of war claims paid by our New Zealand branch is greater than the amounts paid by any other branch of our association. "Wo are, lam glad to say, promised some reduction of the tax by the latest Budget. But until we are freed from all taxation wo will not get the relief that I- think wo can justly claim.

"The prospects of the association in the new year are, I am glad to say, Tery bright. The ending of the war has already removed several impediments to the transaction of our business, and we hope the rest of them will soon disappear. The return of our men from the front—aand they will be very welcome—will bring our staff up to full strength again, and all our machinery will be in full working order. At present everything points to a year of substantial progress, but I cannot ask yon to expect anything better than the report which, is now presented, which I ask yon to accept a« the record of a most Satisfactory year's business. "Since our last meeting we have lost the services of Sir W. H. Irvine as a director of the association, consequent on his elevation to the honourable tion of Chief Justice of Victoria Sir "William Irvine was a member of the board for fifteen years, and his assistance In controlling the affairs of the association wasi highlv valued by his colleagues. Mr George Swinburne, an old friend of the association, and me . l !j a director, was elected te fill The vacancy/' , Messrs Walter Madden, Edward •Trench ard. and George Swinburne, were re-elected auditors, and Messrs J. j

Valantine and W. M. Jarvie were re elected auditors. The New Zealani directors are Sir A. E. Pearce, chair man, Hon. Sir William Fraser an* Mr G. F. Pearce. Christchurch Dis trict Oifice, Hereford street; W. Helli well, district manager. ' /

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19190120.2.55

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16425, 20 January 1919, Page 8

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,308

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION. Press, Volume LV, Issue 16425, 20 January 1919, Page 8

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION. Press, Volume LV, Issue 16425, 20 January 1919, Page 8

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