At a sessional meeting of the Institute held during the period allocated to the collection of the information required for the compilation of the New Mortality Tables, a discussion may not, I think, inappropriately be raised on various points arising in connection with the nature and adaptability for the purpose of the materials used in the construction of the principal Institute Table at present in use, and it is with this view that I venture to submit to the members of the Institute the results of some attempts which I have recently been making to trace the effects produced on the HM Table by the fact that, at the close of the observations from which the Table is derived, there were still in existence nearly 75,000 out of 130,000 males who had come under observation; I have also endeavoured to obtain from the details given in the Mortality Experience published by the Institute some approximate figures as to the new business of the Twenty Offices which supplied the experience upon which the HM Table is based.

The standard of solvency in life assurance companies is a question of such importance that any new light, however small, that can be thrown upon it may well engage our attention. Hence, anyone who can contribute to the illumination in the most insignificant degree may escape the reproach of having intruded himself and his views unnecessarily upon the profession. It is in this spirit that I submit the following short note to the Institute.

So many British life offices now transact business in the Transvaal, or South African Republic, that both on this account and in order to make the list of Insurance Acts printed in the Journal complete, we have thought it desirable to give a transcript of the Law regulating Assurance Companies in the South African Republic. This Act came into force on 1 January 1893 (clause 18), and requires every company whose head office is outside this State

1. If doing life business, to deposit £10,000 sterling in cash, bearing interest at 3 per-cent, or approved securities, with the Treasurer-General (clauses 1, 2, and 3).