§ Mr. GINNELLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board has general power to enforce observance of the undertakings by which insurance companies and societies induce persons to insure with them, so as to obviate the necessity for numerous actions; whether, having regard to the statements in the 1891 prospectus of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, Limited, that the rate of interest at which the funds of the society were invested showed an average of over 6 per cent., that the annual income then exceeded £400,000, and printed in capital letters on every page that all profits belong to the members, to the table of estimated results issued with that prospectus and subsequently, and to the fact that in practice the society repays only about three-fifths of the money paid in premiums, he will have calculated by an independent accountant the amount of profits of this society in those twenty years, the value according to that prospectus of the options to which a person is now entitled who, in March, 1892, when under thirty-two years of age, insured £1,000 on a whole life policy for a tontine period of twenty years, and has paid an annual premium of £24 16s. 8d., amounting in those twenty years to £496 13s. 4d.; whether he will compare the results obtained with the options actually offered in this case; and whether he can require this society either to pay in accordance with its undertakings or to embody in its prospectus a correct illustration of the manner in which it does pay?
Mr. BUXTONThe Board of Trade have no power to enforce the performance of contracts, which is a matter in which the Courts alone have jurisdiction. The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, Limited, has filed all the returns required by the Acts relating to life assurance companies, and these returns show that for the year ending 31st December, 1890, the income of the society amounted to £370,411, and that for each of the five 1132 years preceding 31st December, 1889, the funds of the society were invested so as to give a return of over 6 per cent. The rate of interest earned by the society has diminished since that time with the result that any estimate based on that rate would prove to be excessive. The Board of Trade have no power to require the society to allow a calculation of their profits in addition to that shown in their accounts.