There can now be no doubt as to the advantages which have accrued to the public by the legislative regulations framed in regard to the working of the Life Assurance Companies and Provident Fund Societies. They are recorded in popular language by Mr. H.G.W. Meikle, F.F.A., Actuary to the Government of India in his lucid and interesting report for the year 1918. People in this Presidency and in Bengal have known to their cost the serious mischief caused by the rise of provident societies for all imaginable purposes, and the heavy losses sustained by credulous investors and policy holders. The Provident Societies Act has wrought considerable havoc in this matter and on the whole, the public have stood to gain from the very large reduction in the number of these associations. We learn from the report that there about 1,200 societies of this type thirteen years ago of which only 34 have survived, 9 of which are proprietary and the rest mutual. Except one which has a capital of Rs. 30,000, the average capital of others is about Rs. 3,000.
