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Article GENERAL MEETINGS. ← Page 8 of 14 →
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General Meetings.
Alexander Finlaison has abstracted the facts for his own use , to place them at the service of the Institute . Every member can then class and arrange the facts according to his own method ; and it will be bard if the true value of annuitant life be not presently placed beyond a doubt . Men of our profession will not then hazard inaccuracy of assertion , which , boldly ventured before inexpert audiences , tends to form an erroneous public opinion . It will not then happen that personswho
, may or may not have been parties to a lucky speculation , but who cannot be in possession of all the grounds necessary to form an exact opinion , shall be found deciding that enormous loss had been incurred in this or that quarter , by the use of this or that measure of value . On the third point , namely , the conduct ofthe business involved in the vast interests entrusted to our professional charges , I will merely mention an instance which shows to what momentous error a door is opened b
y inattention to accounts . It was my fortune , many years ago , to attend , as assured member , a general meeting at a great mutual life assurance society . I arrived late , the meeting was about to dissolve . A happy unanimity prevailed as to the prosperity of the society . I obtained a view of the balance-sheet , and at once observed an error of about 500 , 000 / . ! It did not take much time to show that to credit the society , as an assetwith the possession of the present value of tbe full annual
, premiums ; when , in fact these were reduced by sixty per cent , to a very large class of the assured , was rather bad accountantship . It turned out that the Actuary had taken things as he found them on joining the society , and had pursued the system of book-keeping practised by his predecessors . Gentlemen , my remarks must now draw to a close . It
is unnecessary to exhort you to contribute your efforts for the advancement of the Institute . That success and fame which we all desire for the Institute , however , will not be brought about by any ill-natured criticism of other men ' s works . Its permanent establishment will be effected by nobler and purer proceedings . It will be our business to extinguish the deceptive lights of false doctrine b y the brighter rays of truthful and accurate observation . Mr . PETER HARDY said—Gentlemenall you who have listened to
, the admirable address of our honoured President , must have been struck at the animated picture of the evils which will be mitigated , and the mischiefs which will be averted by this Institute . Our profession will , I do not hesitate to assert , at no distant day occupy its proper position amongst the acknowledged grades of society . If , however , gentlemen , the science of life-measurement , and the subordinate studies on which that profession dependscan lay claim to no very great antiquity in point
, of age , they can at least claim to have engaged the attention of the most illustrious mathematicians who have adorned the past or present . Graunt , the father of vital statistics , the first who gave our common notions of a modern table of mortality ; Halley , who , in his learned paper on the Breslaw Mortality , foresaw the future application of the science of lifemeasurement to practical purposes ; De Moivre lives yet in his brilliant hypothesiswhich commands the respect of modern mathematicians ;
, Dodson , Simpson , the acute and practical Price , the laborious Maseres , and Morgan ; Barrett , a name which should never be forgotten by the Actuary , laid a foundation on which a more illustrious mind erected the Columnar method . Contemporary with Barret , Baily has descended to the tomb with scientific honours . I come now to a name which should receive a tribute of respect—I mean the amiable and talented Milne ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
General Meetings.
Alexander Finlaison has abstracted the facts for his own use , to place them at the service of the Institute . Every member can then class and arrange the facts according to his own method ; and it will be bard if the true value of annuitant life be not presently placed beyond a doubt . Men of our profession will not then hazard inaccuracy of assertion , which , boldly ventured before inexpert audiences , tends to form an erroneous public opinion . It will not then happen that personswho
, may or may not have been parties to a lucky speculation , but who cannot be in possession of all the grounds necessary to form an exact opinion , shall be found deciding that enormous loss had been incurred in this or that quarter , by the use of this or that measure of value . On the third point , namely , the conduct ofthe business involved in the vast interests entrusted to our professional charges , I will merely mention an instance which shows to what momentous error a door is opened b
y inattention to accounts . It was my fortune , many years ago , to attend , as assured member , a general meeting at a great mutual life assurance society . I arrived late , the meeting was about to dissolve . A happy unanimity prevailed as to the prosperity of the society . I obtained a view of the balance-sheet , and at once observed an error of about 500 , 000 / . ! It did not take much time to show that to credit the society , as an assetwith the possession of the present value of tbe full annual
, premiums ; when , in fact these were reduced by sixty per cent , to a very large class of the assured , was rather bad accountantship . It turned out that the Actuary had taken things as he found them on joining the society , and had pursued the system of book-keeping practised by his predecessors . Gentlemen , my remarks must now draw to a close . It
is unnecessary to exhort you to contribute your efforts for the advancement of the Institute . That success and fame which we all desire for the Institute , however , will not be brought about by any ill-natured criticism of other men ' s works . Its permanent establishment will be effected by nobler and purer proceedings . It will be our business to extinguish the deceptive lights of false doctrine b y the brighter rays of truthful and accurate observation . Mr . PETER HARDY said—Gentlemenall you who have listened to
, the admirable address of our honoured President , must have been struck at the animated picture of the evils which will be mitigated , and the mischiefs which will be averted by this Institute . Our profession will , I do not hesitate to assert , at no distant day occupy its proper position amongst the acknowledged grades of society . If , however , gentlemen , the science of life-measurement , and the subordinate studies on which that profession dependscan lay claim to no very great antiquity in point
, of age , they can at least claim to have engaged the attention of the most illustrious mathematicians who have adorned the past or present . Graunt , the father of vital statistics , the first who gave our common notions of a modern table of mortality ; Halley , who , in his learned paper on the Breslaw Mortality , foresaw the future application of the science of lifemeasurement to practical purposes ; De Moivre lives yet in his brilliant hypothesiswhich commands the respect of modern mathematicians ;
, Dodson , Simpson , the acute and practical Price , the laborious Maseres , and Morgan ; Barrett , a name which should never be forgotten by the Actuary , laid a foundation on which a more illustrious mind erected the Columnar method . Contemporary with Barret , Baily has descended to the tomb with scientific honours . I come now to a name which should receive a tribute of respect—I mean the amiable and talented Milne ,