Investigations of the mortality prevailing in Canada, whether among assured lives or the population at large, have not up to the present been frequent. Such enquiries demand, first of all, a considerable extent and precision of data, and these are seldom furnished by the records of such private corporations as do business in a new country, or by the periodical censuses undertaken by Government. As to assured lives, most of the companies now transacting the business of life assurance in Canada are recent entrants into the arena, and of such of them as are not to be included in this class, it is yet true that most of their assurances have been effected at comparatively recent dates; so that an investigation into the mortality of the lives, whether undertaken by a single company (supposing its business to be of sufficient magnitude) or by any combination of companies, would be subject to the same defects as are chargeable against the Thirty American Offices' Experience, and against many others, for all of which this example—Titanic in all respects—may stand.

In submitting to the Institute the results of our investigation into the subject of masculinity, we are aware that this theme is somewhat outside the ordinary discussions of the Institute, and we only propose to deal with certain aspects of the question. It may therefore be well to begin by defining the term masculinity, which is simply a convenient expression for stating in one word the proportion of the sexes at birth. The choice of this word has been determined by the fact that male births generally predominate in number over female births. According to the extent of this predominance, masculinity may be described as high or low. The usual practice is to state the number of male births to 1,000 females. When the male births are fewer than the female births the masculinity is said to be negative, the representative figure being then below 1,000.

Having been associated with Mr. George King in the valuation of a Bank Widows' Fund, possessing features of more than usual interest, I have undertaken at his suggestion to write a short account of the principles and methods used in estimating the liability.

These notes were prepared at the request of the General Director of the Norwegian Railways (Mr. L. Segelcke), in consequence of a proposed reconstruction of the Benevolent Funds of the railways. Each traffic district has, besides the Pension Fund for its functionaries, a Benevolent Fund; and these latter funds have gradually accumulated considerable sums, out of which they grant allowances to widows of the functionaries; also, in exceptional cases, to retired functionaries in needy circumstances; but always in the form of gratuities given from year to year at the discretion of the Directors. As, however, there exists a strong feeling in favour of the conversion of the Benevolent Funds into funds securing a fixed annual provision for the widow, and for the children under a certain age (for instance, 18), I was requested to prepare a report on the subject.