Although two papers on industrial assurance by K. J. Britt (T.F.A.21, 265 and 26, 200) have been submitted to the Faculty of Actuaries in recent years there have been no similar discussions of this business at Institute sessional meetings. In addition, papers by G. W. E. Allaway (J.S.S.13, 1) and by K. F. Gardner (J.S.S.13, 22) have been published by the Students' Society, but in none of these papers have the particular problems of collecting friendly societies been fully considered. The industrial assurance funds of societies represent approximately one-fifth of all such funds in this country, and this paper is therefore intended to be complementary to those above-mentioned, to introduce current actuarial problems of collecting friendly societies, and to provide a vehicle for general discussion of industrial assurance.

It will no doubt be readily admitted that in these days investment profit makes the greatest contribution to surplus in life funds and it is not surprising, therefore, that many actuaries are called upon to devote a great deal of their time to investment problems. What is surprising, however, is the fact that property has so rarely been discussed at this Institute despite the large amount of life funds now invested therein.

Although pensions have been discussed at the Institute on many occasions in recent years, the papers submitted have generally been limited to some particular aspect of the subject, such as the preservation of pension rights, the position of pension funds in the national economy, or the influence of State pensions, whereas the subject of the valuation process has been to some extent neglected.

In 1947 the company with which the author is associated decided to institute an enquiry into the mortality of impaired lives. From the first the venture was both medical and actuarial, and a leading part in the planning of the investigation was undertaken by the company's Principal Medical Officer, T. W. Preston, M.D., who devised an impairment coding scheme and has since continued to supervise the coding of policies qualifying for inclusion in the data. While the present paper describes methods used in the statistical analysis of the results, the author wishes to place on record the major role played by Dr Preston in the carrying out of the investigation. The work has, in fact, involved the combination of medical and actuarial skills, and without the participation of the medical profession no actuarial investigation into the mortality of impaired lives would be practicable.