A.D. 1923.

stringency of the provisions thereof as the Commissioner may think just; that is to say

(i) in the case of a society or company in the balance sheet of which last issued before the passing of this Act any such sums as 5 aforesaid were included, for a period of seven years after the passing of this Act;

(ii) in the case of a society or company
which, after the date as at which the balance
sheet last issued before the passing of this 10
Act was made up, has under an amalgamation
or transfer of engagements become liable for
the engagements of any other society or
company and has in consideration thereof
accepted assets which include any such sums 15
as aforesaid, or has in connection therewith
incurred expenditure by way of purchase of
business or good will, for a period of seven
years after the thirty-first day of December
next following the date of amalgamation or 20
transfer of engagements;

(e) Where debentures have been issued or loans
raised which are charged on any of the assets
of the company in which the industrial assurance
fund is invested there shall be inserted in the 25
valuation balance sheet a note giving the par-
ticulars of the charge and stating that the result
shown by the valuation is subject to the liability
under the charge;

(f) The Commissioner, if satisfied on any valuation 30
that any of the foregoing provisions of this sec-
tion have not been complied with, or that the
industrial assurance fund as stated in the valua-
tion balance sheet is greater than the value of
the assets available for the liabilities of that fund, 35
due regard being had to the other liabilities of
the society or company and to the foregoing pro-
visions of this section, may reject the valuation,
and may direct the society or company to make
such alteration therein as may be necessary to 40
secure compliance with those provisions:

Provided that the society or company may appeal to the High Court against any decision of the Commissioner under this paragraph;

(g) The Commissioner may direct any collecting 45 society or industrial assurance company to

furnish to him, in addition to such information

5

10

as the society is required to furnish under A.D. 1923.
section twenty-eight of the Friendly Societies
Act, 1896, or the company is required to furnish
under the Assurance Companies Act, 1909, all
or any of such particulars as are mentioned in
the Second Schedule to this Act, and such
explanations as he may consider necessary in
order to satisfy himself whether the valuation
complies with the provisions of this section.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in section twentyeight of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, or section five of the Assurance Companies Act, 1909, the first valuation under this Act shall in the case of any collecting society and industrial assurance company be made as at 15 a date not later than the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and twenty-five.

(3) If in the case of a collecting society or industrial assurance company a valuation, whether made before or after the passing of this Act, discloses a deficiency the 20 Commissioner may if after investigation he is satisfied that the society or company should cease to carry on industrial assurance business, award that the society be dissolved and its affairs wound up, or, in the case of a company, present a petition to the court for the winding25 up of the company:

Provided that the Commissioner shall not during the first five years after the passing of this Act take action under this subsection if he is satisfied that substantial measures are being taken to improve the financial 30 condition of the society or company.

18. (1) At least one general meeting of every General collecting society and industrial assurance company shall meetings. be held in every year.

(2) Except where the day, hour, and place of an 35 annual or other periodical meeting is fixed by the rules, notice of every general meeting shall either be given by the society or company to the members by advertisement to be published at least twice in two or more of the newspapers in general circulation in every county where the 40. society or company carries on business, or be served upon every member.

(3) The notice shall specify the day, hour, and place, and the objects of the meeting, and in case any amendment of a rule is intended to be proposed, shall contain a 45 copy of every such amendment.

A.D. 1923.

Provisions as to proposals for policies.

(4) The society or company shall publish the last of such advertisements, or serve such notice as aforesaid, at least fourteen days before the day appointed for the meeting, and shall during those fourteen days keep a copy of the notice in legible characters affixed in some 5 conspicuous place in or outside every office at which the business of the society or company is carried on.

Rights of Owners of Policies.

19.--(1) Every proposal for an industrial assurance policy shall, except

(a) where the policy is taken out on the life and on behalf of a child under the age of sixteen;

or

10

(b) where the policy assures a payment of money
for the funeral expenses of parent, child, grand- 15
parent, grandchild, brother, or sister; or
(c) where the person whose life is to be assured
under the policy is a person in whom the
proposer has an insurable interest;

contain a declaration by the person whose life is to be 20
assured that the policy is to be taken out by him, and
that the premiums thereon are to be paid by him.

Where the person whose life is to be assured under the policy is a person in whom the proposer has an insurable interest, the proposal shall contain a statement 25 of the nature of that interest.

(2) A collecting society or industrial insurance company shall not, nor shall any collector or agent of such a society or company issue a proposal form or accept a proposal which does not comply with the foregoing 30 provisions of this section.

(3) If the proposal contains a statement that the person whose life is proposed to be assured is not at the time of making the proposal a person on whose life another policy has been issued by the society or company, 35 and a policy is issued in pursuance of the proposal, the society or company shall be liable under the policy, notwithstanding that the statement is not true, and the truth of the statement is made a condition of the policy.

(4) If a proposal form for an industrial assurance 40 policy is filled in wholly or partly by a person employed by the society or company, the society or company shall not, except where a fraudulent statement in some material particular has been made by the proposer, be entitled to

5

10

117

15

20

20

25

question the validity of the policy founded on the pro- A.D. 1923. posal on the ground of any misstatement contained in

the proposal form:

Provided that

(a) if the proposal form contains a misstatement
as to the age of the person whose life is
proposed to be assured, the society or com-
pany may so adjust the terms of the policy,
or of any policy which may be issued in
substitution or in lieu thereof, as to make
them correspond with the terms which would
have been applicable if the correct age of the
person had been originally inserted in the
proposal;

(b) where but for this subsection the validity of a
policy could have been questioned on the
ground of any misstatement in the proposal
form relating to the state of health of the
person upon whose life the assurance is to be
taken out at the date of the proposal, nothing
in this subsection shall prevent such a question
being raised, if raised within two years from
the date of the issue of the policy founded on
the proposal.

20.—(1) A policy of industrial assurance issued Forms of after the commencement of this Act shall set out the policies. provisions of this Act mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act, such of those provisions as are contained in Part II. of that Schedule being printed in distinctive 30 type, and in the case of a policy on the life of a child under ten years of age shall also set out in distinctive type a statement of the effect of section sixty-two of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896:

Provided that the policy may, if the Commissioner 35 consents, in lieu of setting out the said provisions of this Act, contain a statement which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, sufficiently sets forth the effect of those provisions.

(2) Where a policy of industrial assurance issued 40 after the commencement of this Act does not comply with the provisions of this section, the society or company effecting the insurance shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall, without prejudice to any other liability be liable to pay to the person by whom the premiums 45 have usually been paid a sum equal to the amount of the

A.D. 1923. premiums paid, which sum shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt.

Return of policies and premium receipt books after inspection.

Notice before forfeiture.

Provisions

21. If at any time a collecting society or industrial assurance company, or any person employed by such a society or company, take possession of a policy or premium 5 receipt book or other document issued in connection with a policy, a receipt shall be given, and the policy book or document shall be returned to the owner of the policy within twenty-one days, unless the policy has been terminated by reason of satisfaction of all claims capable 10 of arising thereunder :

Provided that where possession is taken of a policy, book or document for the purpose of legal proceedings to be taken by the society or company that issued the policy against a collector, it shall be lawful for the 15 society or company to retain the policy, book or document so long as may be necessary for the purposes of those proceedings, but in that case if the policy, book or document is retained for more than twenty-one days, the society or company shall supply to the owner of the 20 policy, a copy thereof certified by the society or company to be a true copy.

22.-(1) A forfeiture shall not be incurred by any member or person assured in a collecting society or industrial assurance company by reason of any default 25 in paying any premium until after

(a) notice stating the amount due from him, and
informing him that in case of default of payment
by him within twenty-eight days and at a place
to be specified in the notice his interest or benefit 30
will be forfeited, has been served upon him by
or on behalf of the society or company; and
(b) default has been made by him in paying any
premium in accordance with that notice.

(2) This section shall extend to contracts of 35 assurance effected by a collecting society before the commencement of this Act which are not contracts of industrial assurance within the meaning of this Act.

23. (1) Where notice of the forfeiture of a policy as to forfeited of industrial assurance by reason of default in the pay- 40 policies. ment of any premium thereunder has been served on the owner of the policy, then if the policy

(a) is a policy for the whole term of life or for a

term of fifty years or upwards, the person whose