PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION G. 517 



provided by the official statistics of New Zealand, and to 

 these, in the circumstances, we have been obliged to have 

 recourse." 



It is curious that the actuaries were obliged to fall back upon 

 the figures published in a colonial division of the Empire, to 

 obtain data to enable them to compute the cost of the various 

 contingencies under an important section of, perhaps, the most 

 widely discussed national proposal of modern times; and the 

 remarks quoted above may be considered a reflection on British 

 statistics on the subject. 



Prior to this, in 1903, Mr. H. W. Manly said in his paper on 

 the valuation of Widows' and Children's Pensions regarding 

 Children's Benefits (see J.I.A., vol. XXXVIII., page 108)— 



" In order to ascertain the ages and the number of 

 children left by a married man at his death, I have had to 

 go to the same source as Mr. King did when he constructed 

 his table of ' Family Annuities,' namely, the ' Statistics of 

 the Colony of New Zealand.' " 



In addition to the statistics referred to in the case of New 

 Zealand, however, similar statistics are available for New South 

 Wales for the years 1903 and 1911, and there are corresponding 

 particulars which were obtained in connexion with the investiga- 

 tions into superannuation schemes for the Public Services of New 

 South Wales and of the Commonwealth. This paper, therefore, 

 contains a comparison of the cost of orphans' annuities in Aus- 

 tralasia deduced from the following experiences : — 



1. Number and ages of children to deceased married males 



of various ages, among the general population. New 

 South Wales, 1903. 



2. Number and ages of children to deceased married males 



of various ages, among the general population, New 

 South Wales, 1911. 



3. Number and ages of children to deceased married males 



of various ages, among the general population, New 

 Zealand, 1906-10. 



4. Number and ages of children to married males of various 



ages, in New South Wales Public Service, 1896-1910. 



5. Number and ages of children to married males of various 



ages in Commonwealth Public Service, 1903-08, sub- 

 divided into — 



(a) Administrative, professional, clerical 



(A.P.C.) 



(b) General (G.) 



The facts concerning 1 and 2 were taken from the annual re- 

 ports on vital statistics by the Government Statistician for the 

 years mentioned; concerning 3 from the report on vital statistics 



