NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE.

Otaki Mail, 9 January 1924, Page 3

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE.

A SUCCESSFUL YEAR. Large addition to assurance FUND. Remarkable expansion of business v. as reported an tile 54tn annual meeting oi the National Mutual Lile Association of Australasia, Limited, beiu at Melbourne on December 19. The chairman of directors (Mr A. Newell) presided. THE REPORT. | The report and balance sheet, which 1 were adopted, showed that the income lor tile year, alter deducting re- j assurance premiums, was £3,940,177 j 2o flu. Premiums on policies amount- . ed to £2,953,024 8s sd, and interest, , rents, and fees to £987,152 14s 6d. The s expenditure for the year was £1,629,503 16s 9d, which included £1,343,400 9s 9d paid to policy-holders or t-lieir j representatives.* Of the latter amount! £157,003 17s lOd was paid under Equit- 1 able Life Assurance Society Policies, 1 which were token over by the a-sso-) eiation. Tile sum of £2,310,583 Os 2d was added to the assurance fund, ' which, alter allowing for the amount j trauslened to the. staff superannua- j tion fund, was £18,808,243 9s 6d at Hie j close of the year ended September ?0. Thirteen thousand eight hundred and seventy new policies were issued during the year, assuring £S,BS4,TSG 9s 3d. During the year the association re-as-sured the contracts under the Australasian policies of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, which amounted* to £1,310,877 12s lid. The new annual premiums on tile policies issued amounted to £234,839 2s sd, and the single premiums, including the consideration received from the Equitable Society, to ££B77.- f 81.9 63 7d. The consideration for an-1 nuities amounted to £29,438 10s. Deaths during the year numbered 1024. They _ involved claims under 1139 policies, i which amounted, with bonuses to j £526,239 16s 2d. One thousand seven j hundred and forty-seven endowment j assurances matured, and claims 1 amounting to £407,939 12s lOd. were , paid. Seven hundred and sixty en-. dowments, involving" the payment of £118,153 9s lQd, matured. Thirty-two " annuitants died during the year, and > the annuities payable to them amount- f f-d to £2llO 8s 4d.

CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS. In moving the adoption of the repoi 1 and balance sheet, Mr Newell said : ‘•Since our last meeting the association has lost two friends by the death oi Sir William Fraser and Mr G. S. Littlejohn. Sir William Eraser W'sls a uilector of our New Zesy L Jjranch for 25 years, and Mr Littl.oiO&jt Was a direclur of our New South Wales branch tor 20 years. Both took all active interest in the affairs of the Association, Messrs J. M. A. Ilott and O. S. Watkins have been appointed directors Qf the New Zealand branch, and Sir William Vicars lias been appointed a director of the New Soutli ( Wales branch. Tire report which is , now submitted to you shows that dur- j ing th* last year the business of. the j association has expanded to a remark- ; able extent. The new business, of j £5,884,786 is £877,319 greater than the . total for the previous year. It is the j largest volume of business that v.o | have transacted in any year, with the exception of 1920. If wa add the amount acquired under the re-assur- j ance contract referred to in the report" '■ the total exceeds even the figures of | that year. Our income lor the year, 1 £3,940,177, was £1,217,605 more than the income of the previous year. This amount and others in the revenue account, to which 1 shall refer, were largely affected by the re-assurance transaction. The Interest received is equal to £5 11 g 6d per cent, of the mean amount of the funds. The amount paid to policy holders, £l,343,406, is £374,261 more than tne amount paid in the previous year, but the death claims which are included in this total are much below the expectation. The amount added to the funds, £2,310,583, is by far the largest amount that has been added in any one year. The principal charges in the balnce-sheet are an increase of £593,000 in tho value of Government and municipal debentures held, of £405,000 in loans on mortgage, of £400,000 in loans _to p iicy holders, and of £177,000 " in hoi :e property. A NEW ITEM.

“A new item appears in the trust account of .ne Equitable Life Assurance society of the United States, ‘file amount of £723,525, represents Government debentures which are held by the Con mercial Bank of Australia, in Melbourne, as trustee, in accordance with the laws of the United States, it v.u be largely reduced by the end ot the current calendar' year, and the u- bentures will be included with the ordinary assets of the association e,c the Equitable policies that we re-assured are formally transferred to the association. The re-aseuraiuto contract provided that a? part "-consideration the assets ot the Equitable Society in Augtalasia,- ir.clu-.i’hg he Melbourne a.ud Sydney building-'. were to become the propel i> o. this association. W? were g! id to consent to our friends, the Colonial Mutual Life Society, accusing u»e Melbourne b> til ding for their heed office. .We will retain the Sydney building for our New South Waico branch. have recently purchas'd a property in Auckland, New Zetland, for the scconmcdatjcn ol on; district agency. We now own sixteen .buildings in the principal towns where we are conducting business. They ..are valued in our books at more than £L--109,000, and are excellent asset* for that amount.

GROWTH Or -BUSINESS. ! -To iiluatratfe '.he growth and expansion of the association, my mind goes back to the time, not many years ago, when, for our head office-, we shared with a Are insurance company the occupation of a rented building. When we moved to the building in which we are now meeting, the assurance fund amounted, to about half the amount that has been added to the fund ?.c the result cl last year’s transactions. We gratefully acknowledge the splendid work that was done by those who had charge of the association's affairs in .those early days; the sure foundation which they built has made it possible for us -to reach the present dimensions. The work in connection with the first allotment of annual bonus —as you are aware, we have hitherto allotted bonuses at intervals of three rears—is nearly completed. It is expected that the _ certificates ■will be issued at the end Qi March. The association has received, since its foundation nearly £22.'90,000 as premiums on policies, it has paid more than £16,300,000 to policy' holders of their representatives, end it ha* net funds invested on behalf ol present policy holders and as their absolute propertv mots.than £13,500,000. These are’ large figures, - but our ambition Is to be not necesaarilv the largest company, but the best and the best conns anr is that which gives the iW service to its JSMiff holders and th» cooitnußity.” Sir John Me.cFarland was

ed a.' director of the association. Messrs H. C. Tudehope and W. M. Jarvie were re-appointed auditor^. W. Grey, District Agent for ManaWatu.—(Published by arrangement).