In April 1931 a Departmental Committee was appointed by the Treasury “to examine and report on the law and practice relating to Industrial Assurance...”, and the statutory provisions relating to paid-up policies and surrender values under industrial assurance contracts have again come under consideration. The subject presents many difficulties but the technical considerations are of first importance and it is thought that, by discussion of those technical points with which the Institute is peculiarly qualified to deal, some guidance may be afforded to the larger public whose interests are neither those of the Government Departments nor those of the Corporations great and small which are engaged in the business of industrial assurance.

With the advent of National Health Insurance the friendly society movement in this country entered upon a new phase of its history. The period which has elapsed since 1911 has witnessed farreaching changes affecting not only the methods by which friendly societies conduct their operations and the nature of the benefits they offer but also the character of their experience and even the outlook of the members. It may not be without interest therefore to review the more important of these changes so far as this is possible within the limits of a short paper.