It is hardly necessary to remind Members of this Society that little has been written in the Journal of the Institute on this subject.

Annuities are essentially uniform, monotonous things, devoid for the most part of those ingenious gadgets and fascinating sideshows with which we are wont to dress up Life Insurance for the edification of the non-technical public. The annuity, however, for all its smooth exterior, is a thing to be handled with caution. We have always to keep in mind the following obvious but very important facts:—

(a) That the contracts, in most cases, are completed in one transaction, for good or ill;

(b) that, among immediate annuities, there are few withdrawals or alterations;

(c) that the rate of mortality, especially among those female lives which form the bulk of our experience, is always diminishing;

(d) that this diminishing mortality is to the Companies' disadvantage;

(e) that there is nothing which exactly counterbalances (d);

(f) that there are no bonus-sharing annuities, so far as I am aware, which can be utilised to exhibit profit or absorb loss.