When your invitation came I thought what better subject is there to discuss than the problems facing our own institutions and in particular the problems that are likely to be left to your generation to solve or to suffer under. I therefore intend to deal in this address with one or two of the more controversial issues of the present time—issues which I feel will leave their mark on our business and our profession.

At the end of the 1914–18 War, Life Offices pondered and considered how they could regain their strength. Not only had war claims been heavy but they had suffered severe depreciation on their investments, due to the increase in the market rate of interest. The solution that the great majority found to this problem of regaining strength was to pass their bonus.