§ SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the quinquennial valuation of the Sun Life Assurance Society for the period ending 31st December, 1906, was completed within two months of that date; whether he is aware that the amount of the above-named insurance company's premium income, amount insured, and the number of the beneficiaries, is at least ten times as great as in the case of the Indian Military Service Family Pension Fund; whether, seeing that the staff at the India Office are fully employed on their current work, he will in future arrange for outside aid in procuring the quinquennial valuation of the Indian Military Service Family Pension Fund; and whether he can yet name a date for the completion and publication of the quinquennial valuation of the Indian Military Service Family Pension Fund for the period ending in 1903.
§ (Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) I do not think that the valuation of assets and liabilities arising under Indian Military Service Family Pensions regulations can be compared with the valuation of an English assurance society. In a life assurance society the liability of the company generally terminates with the death of the premium payer. In the Indian Family Pension funds the liability to pay out commences from that date, and sometimes extends for over 80 years. The recognised mortality tables used by English life assurance companies are not applicable to the lives of Anglo-Indians, and the old tables compiled in the time of the East India Company no longer represent existing vital statistics, and now tables have to be quinquennially prepared or revised in order to arrive at an equitable valuation. I will endeavour to arrange for the preparation and publication of the quinquennial valuations, both civil and military, at a much earlier date. As stated in my reply dated the 14th February, the valuation as on 31st March, 1903, is now in the hands of a consulting actuary for his independent investigation and report.