The paper records the growth in the number of apportionments of trust funds due to the passing of the “Trusts (Scotland) Act 1961”. It considers the problems, as they arise in Scotland, of allowing for the impact of taxation, both in determining the interests to be valued and in fixing the valuation rate of interest, and it is suggested that the same net rate of interest need not necessarily be appropriate for all the beneficiaries.

Numerical examples are given of the effects on funds of varying size and investment content of various valuation assumptions, and the problem of disposing of the potential savings in taxation is discussed. The paper ends with a general section covering some practical points in the preparation of schemes to vary trust purposes.

The paper describes the system used by one office to produce valuation and mortality statistics and to calculate bonus for ordinary assurances, using magnetic tape files and a Pegasus 2 computer.

After a brief outline of certain features of the office, the computer, and the previous system using punched cards, some of the factors that influenced the system finally developed are discussed. An outline of the main system is given, and of some of its subsidiary parts.

The policy data and movements system is discussed in detail, and some comments are made on the system of checking the data supplied to the computer. The principal routines to calculate the net premium and value the policy are described fully, and flow charts for the routines are appended. The calculations for analysis of surplus are also described in detail. Some features of the programmes peculiar to a computer system are also discussed, and a detailed example given.

It is shown how Flexowriter tapes could be used to replace punched cards for the input of data for new policies, and how new business statistics could be obtained. Finally, the possibility of using the computer system for an emerging costs valuation is explored, and some other possible future extensions of the system are discussed.

R. Ll. Gwilt in his paper “Mortality in the Past Hundred Years” (T.F.A. vol. 24, p. 40) reviewed the trend of mortality in six countries over the period 1850 to 1950. In their paper to the XVIth International Congress of Actuaries (Vol. II, p. 379) J. L. Anderson and the writer reviewed the trend in 17 countries over the period 1937 to 1956. Both these papers indicated some of the factors which cause variations in mortality rates, but it is felt that a study of the mortality variations over a short period in one country might yield further information.

The paper is a sequel to an earlier paper by Clarke published in T.F.A. vol. 27, p. 20 and it brings up to date the results of an investigation into the mortality experienced by various classes of impaired lives.

For each impairment considered, percentages of actual to expected deaths are shown, the expected deaths being calculated from mortality rates applicable to a corresponding group of standard lives.

In a separate section of the paper, the deaths are analysed by cause with a view to establishing what causes of death are responsible for the extra mortality arising among lives suffering from specific impairments.

The paper describes a with-profit group bonus system similiar to a rebate system being operated at the present time. It is suggested that, in view of the present high level of interest rates, the premium rates for such a scheme should be based on an immunization approach, and the paper describes how these rates can be calculated using a computer. It is envisaged that capital profits for with-profit group pension business will be distributed, and a system is outlined for arriving at the distributable surplus, and for distributing it. This system is based on reserves calculated on the premium basis and on a special “market value fund”.

Much concern has been expressed in recent years about the slow rate of growth of output in the U.K. as compared with the achievements of a number of other countries. One of the several explanations advanced is that Britain has suffered so much from instability—often referred to as “stop-go”. The first part of the paper sets out to test this proposition.

The statistics of gross domestic product, industrial production and fixed investment over the years 1950 to 1963 or 1964 are analysed for the U.K., the U.S.A., West Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and Japan. The results show that the fastest rates of growth were achieved in countries where there were also violent fluctuations of output. Fast growth, but not the fastest, was also associated elsewhere with a high degree of stability. The evidence is thus too contradictory to support, on the face of it, either the view that stability is a necessary condition of fast growth or that instability is necessarily the price of growth.

The second part of the paper discusses some aspects of stabilization policy with particular reference to recent British experience.