largely left to guess about its contents. Mortgages which we found in Chapter VII to be unsuitable for the private investor we saw at the same time to be excellent for institutions like insurance companies, which can command the skill and attention necessary for their vigilant and constant scrutiny; and their amount in this case is less than half a million out of a total of 26½ millions.
Of the investments, four millions odd are British Government securities, £953,000 are Indian and Colonial Government, £2,886,000 Foreign Government, and £6,784,000 are Railway and other debentures and debenture stocks, home and foreign, these items making up nearly £14¾ millions out of the total of 16¾. British municipal and county securities only amount to £128,000, and there are £290,000 of "Railway and other" ordinary stocks and shares.
It was noted above that the list of investments is almost entirely uninforming. The insurance companies are bound by the Assurance Companies Act of 1909 to draw up a balance-sheet according to the Third Schedule of the Act. The headings shown are those provided by the Schedule. As usually happens with these well-meant official regulations, those bound by them naturally think that, having duly followed them,
