A study of the history of public superannuation schemes reveals that, in general, steady progress has been, and is being, made; there is, however, little consistency as between various branches of the public service. There have already been many post-war developments, in which there is some evidence of a common pattern, yet in which there are many startling divergencies. In view of the ever-increasing scope of the public services, it is surely time to give serious consideration to the question of standardization of such schemes; and the object of this paper is to suggest possible future developments along these lines.

Sickness tables for non-standard periods are often encountered in Friendly Society practice—more often than may generally be expected. For example, in a substantial Order recently valued by the authors, the first fifty-six lodges were found to be using altogether forty-two such tables.

How to treat these benefits actuarially is quite a formidable problem, for no valuation factors are available for non-standard periods and none of the substitutes in general use is entirely satisfactory. For instance, the actuary can either use valuation factors for suitably chosen standard periods and make a rough over-all adjustment or he can turn to tables, such as those prepared by Rhodes,* and toil through the construction of the appropriate commutation columns. The first method is of doubtful accuracy and is very sensitive to variations in the age distribution, while the second involves an amount of labour which is generally quite unacceptable.

Tuberculosis at the present time still causes over 20,000 deaths a year in England and Wales and is one of the major medical problems of the day. The mortality of the disease has been considered several. times recently in papers or discussions of the Institute (Pedoe, 1947; Elderton, 1947; Conybeare, 1948), and always it is the mortality by calendar years that has been mentioned or implied. It is the purpose of this note to draw attention to the somewhat different picture obtained when generation mortality rates for tuberculosis are examined.

These notes are a description of a method of valuation which is believed to be new in its application to dividing societies, but they are not intended to deal with the general problems with which actuaries are faced in valuing dividing societies. A method of reorganization of a dividing society which results in a fluctuating dividend is also suggested.

With these words Sir George Maddex, in his Presidential Address, directed our attention to the present system of taxation of annuity funds. M. E. Ogborn, on 27 October 1947, touched on the subject of uneven incidence of tax upon differing funds, and some uneasiness about the consequences was manifest in the discussion on that paper.