Those of us who have had occasion to study the Friendly Societies: Act of 1896 will be aware of the provisions contained therein relating to the dissolution of friendly societies and of the fact that the rules of a registered society must incorporate such provisions.

The chance that many of our members will meet a case of dissolution in practice is perhaps small, but, nevertheless, the study of the problems involved in assessing the shares of the members in the funds of a society is well worth while, since it involves the consideration of the basic principles of friendly society valuation.

After a short discussion of the legal provisions, this paper introduces some of the more important problems that can arise in connexion with the dissolution of societies of the most common type granting both sickness and death benefits.

Statistics forms a not unimportant part of the actuary's studies, and is understood to be attracting greater attention than was the case, say, fifty years ago. To some extent this is undoubtedly due to an increasing recognition of its importance in this field, but we must also recognize that it is a subject in which big advances have been made on the theoretical side during the present century. Now there must always be of necessity a great gulf fixed between the papers of an Aitken and those of the Institute's examinations. It does not follow, however, that the elements of the subject must continue to be taught in the same old way. The enigma facing the student when extensions to knowledge are being continually made can be resolved, and very often is resolved, by a complete rewriting of the elementary text-books. To give an example, we have all been taught at one time or another how to test the difference between two sample means by using the standard error, on the large sample theory.