B. Reports of Selected Cases heard by the Commissioner AMENDMENT OF RULES. ... ... Catherine Johnston and the British Empire Collecting COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Sir Amos Childe Kirk and the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Page. 5 7 9 9 11 DELEGATE. Henry Brown and the Royal Liver Friendly Society-Delegate Henry Thomas Savage and the Prudential Assurance Com- FORFEITURE NOTICE. 15 ... 16 Mrs. A. M. Bedford and the Liverpool Victoria Friendly ... Nellie A. M. Rowlands and the British Legal Life Assurance ... JURISDICTION, see DELEGATE. PAYMENT ON DEATH [see also Suicide]. Mary Ann Geary and the Royal London Mutual Insurance 17 19 21 M. A. Newton and the Britannic Assurance Company, Limited 26 Page. 2. DISPUTES-cont. PREMIUMS. Martha Cash and the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society- PROPOSAL. ... ... ... J. S. Fenwick and the London and Manchester Assurance ... ... ... Robert S. Scrase and the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society SICKNESS BENEFIT. ... ... F. C. Jones and the Bristol, West of England and South SUICIDE. Jessie Bird and the L.C.c. Tramway Employees' New Cross WILL. Ellen Wright and the British Legal Life Assurance Company, house-Policy on testator's life C. Applications under Section 32 (2) 3. FREE POLICIES AND SURRENDER VALUES 4. PROSECUTIONS. Failure to give receipt (Section 22) Deduction of arrears on payment of claim (Section 27) A 2 5. LEGISLATION. Page. A. Orders in Council for registration of the Act in the B. Rules of Supreme Court as to deposit and appeals 8. ANNUAL ACCOUNTS AND RETURNS FOR 1924. A. Industrial Assurance Companies 58 59 69 62 63 ... ... ... 112 122 D. Particulars of Policies-Industrial Assurances in force as Report of the Industrial Assurance Commissioner for the Year ended 31st December, 1925. Presented pursuant to the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923 (13 & 14 Geo. 5. cap. 8), S. 44. The present Report differs inevitably in character from that for 1924. The latter contained no statistics, but consisted of an account of what the Commissioner had done for the purpose of bringing into operation the various sections of the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923. The different character of this Report is the principal reason for the lateness of its appearance, which, it is hoped, will not recur in future years. But while this presentation of the details of the working of industrial concerns in 1924 has been delayed, it has been found possible to set out the results for 1925 in the form of a summary which is on sale at the Stationery Office at the price of 9d. In the case of companies doing ordinary as well as industrial business, the complete accounts are published in the Board of Trade Return as to Assurance Companies. In strictness, the Board of Trade should publish the ordinary accounts and the Commissioner the industrial accounts, but, as some of the accounts include both classes of business, the result would be that both Departments would have to publish accounts relating to both classes--a horrid reduplication. By the beginning of 1925 the preliminary work had been practically completed without damage to the increasing prosperity of legitimate and properly conducted industrial assurance business. That business, however, is not yet so prosperous as was supposed by a correspondent, who wrote: 66 6 Enclosed please find particulars of Industrial Assurance' You will notice Net Weekly Profit' is at least 40 per cent. This multiplied by 52 gives 2,080 per cent. annual net profit. "Of course the companies hide these facts in their Annual Balance Sheets, and, what with Reserve Fund manipulation and exorbitant directors' fees, escape the Excess Profits Tax. "To my mind they should be compelled to disgorge all they have thus taken, with interest thereon." Section 11 provided for the exemption from the Act of juvenile societies and branches registered on or before 31st December, 58876 A 3 1924. All that was done under the section in 1925 was to deal with certain belated cases. Certain difficulties emerged with regard to societies and branches which contained both adult and juvenile members, and which, therefore, did not fall within the section. These were got over in some cases by the registration of a separate body to include the juvenile members, but will be finally overcome by the Industrial Assurance (Juvenile Societies) Bill, which is now before Parliament. Section 28, which conferred certain substituted rights on holders of policies protected by the Courts (Emergency Powers) Act, 1914, ceased finally to operate on 7th June, 1925. But it must be again pointed out that the owners of these policies, if the policies have not been forfeited, either under a notice of forfeiture issued during the currency of the Act of 1914, which came into effective operation on the repeal of the material part of that Act by Section 28, or under notice of forfeiture issued after such repeal, still have the right to payment on death or maturity, less arrears, under the ordinary law relating to industrial assurance policies. Under Section 7 postponement of time for making the deposit of £20,000 was granted in the great majority of cases till the end of 1926, so that the result of the first valuation under the Act, due to be made as at 31st December, 1925, might be known, and the Commissioner might act accordingly. There were a few cases, however, of postponement till 31st December, 1925, where the first valuation under the Act was due to be made as at the end of 1924, and these were dealt with in the year now under review. In a certain number of cases postponement was granted not because a society had funds insufficient. for the purpose, but because its funds were invested in such a way that a deposit was impossible without realisation and reinvestment, which would have involved undue inconvenience or loss. Societies which have obtained postponement in such circumstances have been reminded that their future investments. should be made in such a manner as to enable them to make a deposit in due course. Under Section 10 exemption from all or some of the provisions of the Act has been granted or refused in the case of all existing registered societies, and all that now remains to be done under that section is to consider the exemption of societies subsequently applying for registry. Section 46 (2) of the Act provides that it shall extend to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. On proceeding to enforce the Act in Guernsey, the Commissioner, who supposed that the Act meant what it said, was informed by the local Greffier that as the Act was not registered in Guernsey it was not operative there. Inquiry was made of the Home Office and ultimately |