I propose in this lecture to confine my attention for the most part to staff pension funds, i.e. funds set up and administered within firms. There are, of course, pension schemes the administration of which is entrusted to insurance companies and special legal points necessarily arise in that connexion as well, but I find on consideration that there is ample to occupy the time at my disposal if I apply myself particularly to those private or “house” schemes which find their expression in the setting up of a pension or superannuation fund. However, some of the points I raise and the views I express apply also to schemes carried on through insurance companies.

The existing writings dealing with industrial assurance subjects in the Students' Society and Institute Journals are mainly confined to two narrow aspects of the business—processes involving actuarial technique, and details of legislation. These matters are dealt with comprehensively whilst the broader, and perhaps more vital, problems of the business are almost ignored. This imposes no hardship on those in contact with industrial assurance but it must hinder those students who are not in such contact and it would perhaps help them if some indication were given of the more important matters conditioning the business as it is in Great Britain and Ireland. The great difference between the conditions of the large industrial assurance companies and those of the small collecting societies makes it impossible to attempt completeness in a short note, and the present note is written, therefore, with the position of the industrial assurance companies mainly in view, although it will be realized that much of it is also applicable to the larger collecting societies.

In any discussion on recent trends in national finance the most important feature to note is that the State is being called upon more and more to redress the balance in the social and economic system. This tendency shows itself in the introduction of quotas, subsidies, Government-guaranteed loans to industry, health and unemployment policies, etc., and can, of course, be traced back to the nineteenth century. During the last few years, however, some of the changes have been so rapid that it is not yet possible to appraise their true value, and it seems likely that in the not too distant future private enterprise will cease to be the dominant force in the economic life of this country, whatever may be the party labels of successive Governments. Apart from forces at present operating, the coming task of adjusting the economic system to a falling or even stationary population will certainly require Government assistance on a large scale, especially in the labour market if much unemployment is to be avoided.