The question,—how insolvent Life Assurance Companies are to be dealt with,—which all who take an interest in assurance affairs have for some considerable time been aware could not much longer be evaded, has during the last three years assumed a pressing importance, and although the subject has lately been discussed in several pamphlets and essays by members of this Institute and others it can hardly be considered, exhausted. One of our most distinguished public men, himself one of the ablest lawyers of the day, after a searching and diligent enquiry has come to the conclusion that no better way can be found to settle the affairs of the “Albert,” than by distributing among its more than 20,000 assured a sum which, on an average, may be expected to yield about one year's premium for each. It is surely worth consideration whether it is desirable that this decision should be drawn into a precedent, and besides, the subject may interest the members of this Institute for its own sake, because it involves questions concerning estimates of liabilities with regard to which actuaries are by no means agreed, and at which lawyers are in the habit of looking from a different point of view altogether. Certainly we may learn something from the legal profession, possibly they may pick up a little from us, towards the elucidation of a somewhat intricate matter, and the solution of a by no means easy problem.

In a paper read before this Institute many years ago, by Mr. S. Brown, occur the following judicious remarks relative to Statistics of Mortality and Sickness:—

“It has frequently been remarked” says Mr. Brown, “that “however varied and uncertain may be the occurrence of the events “to which the life of a single individual is exposed, the average “return in a large mass of persons is so regular as to be predicted “with confidence within very small limits of error. On the “uniform happening of these events under similar circumstances, “or the discovery of the laws by which they are governed, the “actuary depends for the application of the theories of probabilities “to the many useful purposes for which they may be rendered “available. The principal difficulty which he has to encounter is “the indefinite character of the event itself. In endeavouring to “ascertain the law of mortality at any period of time, or in any “particular country, the event is certain and definite whenever it “does occur. The attention is only required to the difference of “the circumstances which cause it—the age of the party, the “nature of the disease, or the locality within certain boundaries of “which a greater or less intensity of disease may prevail. But a “much greater difficulty arises when the event itself which is under “observation is of an uncertain character; such for instance as the “average duration or effects of sickness in a large number of cases.