A very large proportion of the life assurance policies in force in the British Isles give the assured the right to participate in the profits of the issuing office. Where a policy has been effected in recent years, it is almost certainly the case that the assured at the time of making his proposal, was given some indication of the bonuses which he might expect to be allotted to his policy. Sometimes an intending assured merely learns the latest rate of bonus declared, or the rate of interim bonus for the time being in force, by reading the prospectus of the issuing office, while on other occasions figures given verbally by an agent, or in a leaflet or letter describing the proposed policy, contain an allowance for future bonuses. It is almost invariably the case that some information along these lines is given and, no matter how guardedly it is done, the assured regards the figures which he has received as the office's estimate of the bonuses which will in due course be allotted to his policy.