NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 285, 6 January 1930, Page 10

NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE

SIXTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. Outstanding events in the histoiy of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia, Limited, were outlined by the chairman of directo'rs (Sir John MacFarland) at the sixtieth , annual general meeting of members, which was held at the head office of the Association on December 18, 1929. Sir John MacFarland traeed the rise in the amount of the assurance fund from ' 1869, when the association was established as a mutual institution without any^capital, until to-day, when its assurance fund amounts to £31,547,594. PROSPEROUS YEAR. Tn moving the adoption of the directors' report and balance sheet-, the chairman said : The report that you have hefore vou contains tlie particulars of a prosperous year of business. The new business tvansacted was £9,868,350, which "is the largest amount written in any year. The ordinary annual premium income was £197,000 greater tlian the amount received in the previous year. The net amount of interest received, after dedueting £125,677 paid for rates and taxes, which is £73,261 more tlian the amount paid for rates and taxes in 1928. is £1,608,374, and this is equal to £2 6s per cent. of the mean funds in excess of the amount that we assuuied in our calculations the funds would earn. The amount added to the funds during the year was £2,400,264. OVER £2,000.000 PATD TO POLICYHOLDERS. The amount paid for death claims was £815,860, or £83,076 more than the ainounb paid in 10928 ; but the mean amount at risk has° increased from £75,000,000 -to £81.000,000. The amount paid is only 59.7 per cent. of the expectation. It represents an average amount of £528 a policy ; but the individual amounts paid range from £10,000 to £14. It will be -seen that our business is not confined to any one class in the community. Tlie amount paid included £173,966, wliich had been added as bonuses. _ Of the 1,544 policies under wliich. claims were paid 110 liad heen in force for' less than two years, and of these 59 liad been in force for less tlian one year. Most of these claims were due to accident or causes that could not be foreseen. The average duration of all the. policies was eigliteen years and eleven months. The amount paid under endowment assurances matured was £654,623, which includes £177,000 bonus additions. ' Other amounts bring the total paid to policyhoklers or their representatives to £2,093,7S1. ASSURANCE FUND OVER £31,500,000. The ordmary expenses of management were slightly lower in proportion to the venewal premiums, but the total expenses were about the same per centage of the total premiums when eompared with the previous year. The principal changes in our assets during tlie year were increases of £126,330 in Government securities, £1,326,430 in debentures of municipalities and other public bodies, £55,545 in mortgages, £575,066 in loaiis to members on the security ot their policies, £118,646 in loans on policies with collateral security, and £111,710 in lioqse property. The last item represents amounts expended on our new building in Brisbane, in the purchase of a property in Palmerston North (New Zealand), to house our agency in tliat important district, in the erection of offices in Bloemfontein (South Africa), and in the purchase of property adjoining our branch office in Capetown. The amount of the assurance fund on 30th September was £31,547,594. HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION. The Association was established on 20th August, 1869, and it has therefore completed its 60th year. As a purely mutual institution it sbarted without any capital; at the end of the first five years, after paying expenses of every sort, an assurance fund of £15,464 had been accumulated, and after setting aside £3000 as a reserve for unforseen eontingencies, £3098 was divided among the policy-holders. This wonderful result was made possiblo only by the strict economy which was enforced by the founder (Colouel J. M. Templeton), and by his seit-de-nial. It took twenty-one years to aeciimulate tbe first million pc^unds of funds, but tliose were the years in wliich the foundations of tbe Association were laid securely. At the end of forty-seven years the assurance fund amounted to £10,000.000. The second £10,000,000 took eight years to accuniulate. and tlie third ten million, or ratlier eleven millions and a-half, have been added in the last five years. During ihe 60 years tlie Association has received in premiums £44,272,000; it has returned to its policy holders in the fonn of bonuses tbe equivalent of £11,807,000 in cash. The interest received from the investment of the funds amount to £18,845.000 after dedueting more than £787,000, which has been paid for taxes. It has paid under its policies £27,314,055, and the assurance fund now auiounts to £31,547,594. This fund is the property of the policy holders, who numbered more than 200,000 at the end of the financial year, and it is administered sulelv for their benefit. The association mav be described as a partnership whose only object is to do its best for all its members. The results which are now presented to you are due in a large measure to the scrvices of the officers and agents in /all branclies of the association's organisation. We liave a very loyal staff, and they have worked very efficieutlv during tlie year. Sir Robert Gibson second ed the motion, which was agreed to unanlroousjv. Sir John AlacFarland was re-elected director ,and Messrs W. M. Jarvie and H. C. Tudeliope were re-elected auditors.