Insurance in Australia.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 207, 5 September 1904, Page 4

Insurance in Australia.

At a meeting of the Insurance Institute of New South Wales an essay by Mr J. P. Moore, of the Citizens' Life Assurance, wae read, and it gave some interesting statistics relating to "new ordinary business and its cost in Australasia/' Of the new business written by Australasian offices -during 1902, Mr Moore stated that 38 per ccait. was under whole of life tables, 57 per cent, endowment assurance, and 5 per cent, endowment and other tables. As only 43 per cent, of the existing business was endowment assurance, it might be inferred tliat this class of policy was growing in favour with us, as it was said to be in England and' America. Whether this trend was commendable was a debatable point, but there was no doubt as to the lapse rate in Australia being exceedingly higii; higher than in either England or America. For the year 1902 the the amount lapsed and surrendered by the nine leading! Australasian offices was £4,726,431, or over 49 per cent, of the new 'business written during the previous year. The corresponding percentage for 76 leading American offices was 34.7, the lapses and surrenders for 1902 amounting to £98,574,054, and the 1901 new business £284,290,218, It was generally understood that American business exhibited more lapses than British, so that, in this respect, our Australasian offices enjoyed an unenviable prominence. Of the total ordinary business written by nine Australasian offices since organisation, nearly 45 per cent, remained o,t the books in 1902. In American offices the corresponding percentage was only 35 ; so that it looked as if the latter had been more wasteful in the past, or it may be that the 2lass of business written—such as term assurances, short endowments, etc:—ma/de a comparison of this nature impossible.