Gentlemen,—Permit me, in the first place, to offer you my most sincere thanks for the honour you have conferred upon me in electing me President of your Society for this Session. It is an honour which I highly value, although I am fully sensible of my inability to discharge, as I should wish to do, the duties which it involves.

When considering as to a subject on which to address you, I was led to think that an examination of those portions of the Life Assurance Companies Act which relate to valuations might probably prove interesting to you, and I accordingly selected that as the basis of my paper for to-night.

It is to be noted that the aim of the Act is limited mainly to securing publication by the Companies of their accounts and valuation statements in a clear and intelligible manner and on a uniform system, and that there is an important difference between its principles and those embodied in the legislation of the United States of America, under which a test-valuation is prescribed, and practically a Government certificate of solvency is provided.