CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3] — Page 50

and goes on to suggest that this should be entrusted to local

states

chartered accountants, of whom, he allegea, there are at least two firms entirely competent to do the work. -confess

ane

dist lernte succestion is an entirely novel one, of

mt it is intended seriously, and I must therefore point outy For Kr. Severa's information, that actuarial valuations and offer estu rial investigations are usually entrusted to

actuary audi net to a chartered accountant.

6.

As regards the last part of paragraph 7, I would observe that, when an actuarial investigation is to be made, it is for the persons applying the necessary particulars and

statistics to Jraw tution to any special features, such se a large proportion of withdrawals in the case of certain classes

of officers, which they consider the actuary should bear in mind in his investigations, ruslly however the statistics

called for by the actuary ontain full information on such points,

and there is little reason to fear that a qualified Actuary will

overlook then though of course the causes of such withdrawals

vill normally be a matter for conjecture with him unless he is

informed of those causes by someone with ZŃCZEN

•

nowledge of

the Government service. A local actuary might indeed be more liable than an actuary in England to come to a false conclusion on such a matter unless properly instructed by the Government, as he would be more apt to base is assumptions on his own experience in some other sphere in the Colony, where conditions were quite different from those prevailing in the Government Service.

the

Faragraph 6 of Kr. Severn's despatch shows tint be

Accurate conception of the principles on which these Funde

+ of. are framed the manner in which the amount of such a fund must

increase for many years after its institution if it is to be

solvent. On these questions M

I w2 refer to Severn night with

46437/08

CO. 6 M2 Young

10 May 20

For/13658/19847

par 3 to end

in trudle

father the memorandum by Mr. T.E.Young and Sir Gerald Ryan which was enclosed in Lord Elgin's despatch of 16th January 1907. As regards his statement that

"the roughest calculation will show that the pensions

at present paid are probably less than half those that

could be paid with a proper margin of safety. I will

merely say that such a statement puts the author of it

Covert sutirely out of Mr. Severn is not an actuary,

and no one but an actuary is qualified to say even roughly what pensions can be paid in return for given contributions; and even an actuary would not venture an

opinion on such a question unless he had first been

supplied with full statistical information of the

experience of the Fund or Scheme, or at least of the general mortality of the Colony, and had been able to

make a full investigation into the matter.

now

-

Some

8. Having dealt with Er. Severn's despatch at

what you may perhaps coneider unnecessary length, I

would mention that the question whether an actuarial

investigation of the experience of the Straits Settle-

ments, Federated Malay States and Hong Kong Widows' and

Orphans' Pension Schemes not of course a valuation of Funds which have been abolished years ago has recently been engaging my attention, in connection primarily with the Straits Settlements and Federated l'alay States. I enclose, for your information and for any observations which you may favour me with an extract from a letter which has been addressed to Ir. T.E.Young on the subject. On receipt of his reply, I will communicate with you

further.

(Sgd.) L. S. AMERY,

I have, etc.,

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