reserve. Any amount so paid to any bank shall be charged to its account, and be repaid with interest compounded semi-annually at the rate of five per cent per annum out of the surplus funds of said insurance department as soon and so far as an adequate surplus exists. The amounts so advanced by the General Insurance Guaranty Fund to any bank shall be repaid only as above provided, and sball not be deemed a liability in determining the solvency of its insurance department. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 18.] 769. The General Insurance Guaranty Fund may guarantee insurance risks in certain cases. - If and whenever the funds held by the General Insurance Guaranty Fund are in the opinion of both the insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner sufficient therefor, said trustees may enter into a contract with any savings bank desiring to establish an insurance department to guarantee all the risks of such bank until such time as it shall have a surplus of not less than twenty thousand dollars nor less than ten per cent of the aggregate insurance reserve. If and whenever such guaranty contract is entered into by any bank, it shall not be necessary to provide the special insurance guaranty fund provided for in § 5 before the insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner are entitled to issue the certificate establishing the insurance department as provided in [paragraph 747.] [Acts, 1907, c. 561, $ 19.]

770. Investments. The funds of the General Insurance Guaranty Fund shall *be invested in the same classes of securities and in the same manner in which the deposits of the savings department are, or may hereafter by law be required to be invested; but the trustees of said fund shall be at liberty to deposit in any savings bank any funds on hand which by reason of the smallness of the amount or for any other reason cannot, in the opinion of the trustees, otherwise properly be invested at that time. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 20.]

771. Percentage of profits to be set apart as an emergency fund. Savings and insurance banks shall annually set apart as a surplus from the net profits, if any, which have been earned in the insurance department, an amount not less than twenty nor more than seventy-five per cent thereof, until such fund equals ten per cent of the net insurance reserve, or the amount of the special insurance guaranty fund, whichever is the greater. Such surplus fund shall thereafter be maintained and held to meet losses in its insurance department from unexpectedly great mortality, depreciation in its securities, or otherwise. The balance of the net profits shall be distributed equitably annually among the holders of its policies and annuity contracts; such distribution to be made in the discretion of the trustees either in cash or by addition to the amounts payable under the policies or annuity contracts. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 21.]

772. Insurance policies, by whom signed, etc. Life insurance policies and annuity contracts may be signed on behalf of the savings and insurance banks by the treasurer or assistant treasurer, or by such other officer or employee of the savings and insurance banks as the trustees may from time to time determine. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 22.]

773. Premiums may be reduced in certain cases, etc. If and whenever the net assets of the General Insurance Guaranty Fund over all liabilities exceed one hundred thousand dollars or five per cent of the aggregate outstanding insurance reserve of all savings and insurance banks, whichever is the greater, the trustees of said fund may, with the approval of the insurance commissioner, reduce the percentage of premiums on insurance and annuities so payable to it, or altogether discontinue the

same; but the trustees shall have the power to require at any time thereafter said contribution to be made at a rate not exceeding that provided for in section eighteen. [See paragraph 768.] [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 23.]

774. Taxes, etc. Savings and insurance banks shall in respect to all funds held by the insurance department as a part of its insurance reserve or surplus, and the General Insurance Guaranty Fund shall in respect to all funds held by it, pay to the commonwealth the same taxes, at the same rate, to the same extent, and in the same manner as taxes are now payable on deposits held by the savings department. Savings and insurance banks shall not be taxable on funds held as part of the expense guaranty fund, or of the insurance guaranty fund, nor shall such banks or the General Insurance Guaranty Fund be liable for any taxes or fees provided to be assessed upon life insurance companies, or for any taxes or fees except as above provided. All insurance policies and annuity contracts issued by such banks shall otherwise be exempt from taxation. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 24.]

775. Suits, etc. Any suit brought on or in respect to any policy or annuity contract issued by any savings and insurance bank shall be brought in the county in which such bank is located, and within two years after the date of the alleged cause of action. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 25.]

776. Issuing of policies may be discontinued, etc. Any savings insurance bank may at any time discontinue the issuing of insurance policies and annuity contracts if its board of trustees has, at a meeting duly called for the purpose, voted so to do by a majority of two thirds of its trustees present at the meeting and voting. The notice of such meeting shall be given at least thirty days prior to the date of such meeting, and shall be otherwise in accordance with any laws or by-laws governing the calling of special meetings of trustees. A copy of the vote to discontinue said business certified to by the clerk of the bank, and sworn to by the president or vice president and the treasurer or assistant treasurer, shall be filed in the office of the bank commissioner and also in the office of the insurance commissioner. A bank which has so voted may reinsure all outstanding policies and annuity contracts in any other savings and insurance bank, or, with the approval of the insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner, in any purely mutual legal reserve life insurance company organized under the laws of Massachusetts, if such company does not employ solicitors of insurance or make house to house collection of premiums, and does not provide for the payment of interest on its guaranty capital of more than four per cent, if it makes provision satisfactory to the insurance commissioner for carrying out with reasonable convenience to policy holders and annuitants its then existing contracts. When a bank which has voted to discontinue said business has so reinsured its outstanding policies and annuity contracts, or fully performed the same, it shall transfer to the General Insurance Guaranty Fund all the assets of the insurance department remaining after paying all its liabilities, including special guaranty fund certificates issued under [paragraph 748 or 749.] [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 26.]

777. Examinations of savings bank insurance departments. The insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner shall, at least once in each year, and whenever they consider it expedient, either alone or together, personally or by deputy or assistant, examine the insurance department of each savings and insurance bank and the General Insurance Guaranty Fund. At such examination they shall have free access to the vaults, books, and papers, and shall thoroughly inspect and examine the affairs of said corporation to ascertain its condition, its transactions, its ability to

fulfil its obligations, and whether it has complied with all the provisions of law applicable to it. They shall preserve in a permanent form a full record of their proceedings, including a statement of the condition of the insurance department of each of said banks. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 27.]

778. Summoning of witnesses in examinations, etc. Either of said commissioners or his deputy or assistant specially authorized by him in writing may summon the trustees, officers, or agents of any such corporation, and such other witnesses as he thinks proper, and examine them relative to the affairs, transactions, and condition of the insurance department or of the General Insurance Guaranty Fund, and for that purpose may administer oaths. Whoever without justifiable cause refuses to appear and testify when so required, and whoever obstructs a commissioner in the performance of his duty, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 28.]

779. May be restrained from doing business in certain cases, etc. - If upon examination the insurance department of any savings and insurance bank appears to both the bank commissioner and the insurance commissioner to be insolvent, or if they find its condition such as to render the continuance of its business hazardous to the public or to the holders of its policies or contracts, the commissioners shall apply or, if such bank appears to have exceeded its powers or failed to comply with any provision of law, may apply to the supreme judicial court, which shall have jurisdiction in equity of such application, for an injunction to restrain such department, in whole or in part, from further proceeding with its business. The court may appoint one or more receivers to take possession of the property of the insurance department, subject to such directions as may from time to time be prescribed by the court, without in any respect affecting the operations of the savings department. The provisions in R. L., c. 113, §§ 7 and 8 [as amended], shall be applicable to such receivers. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 29.]

780. Annual statement to be filed. The treasurer shall annually within twenty days after the last business day in October file in the offices of the insurance commissioner and of the bank commissioner a statement which shall exhibit the financial condition of the insurance department on the last business day of October. For cause the commissioners may extend the time within which any such statement may be filed, but not to a date later than the fifteenth day of December. Such annual statement shall be in the form required by the bank commissioner and the insurance commissioner. They shall embody therein so much of the forms now prescribed for life insurance companies and for savings banks as may seem to them appropriate, with any additional inquiries they may require for the purpose of eliciting a complete and accurate exhibit of the condition and transactions of the companies. The assets and liabilities shall be computed and allowed in such statement in accordance with the rules governing insurance companies, except as herein otherwise provided. The president or vice president of the savings and insurance bank and five or more of the trustees shall certify and make oath that the report is correct according to the best of their knowledge and belief. The insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner may also at any time require the treasurer to make such other statement of condition or furnish such other information concerning the insurance department as they may deem necessary. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 30.]

781. Annual statement of treasurer of Guaranty Fund.

The treasurer

of the General Insurance Guaranty Fund shall annually, within thirty days after the last business day of October, file in the offices of the insurance commissioner and of the bank commissioner a statement in such form as said commissioners shall prescribe, which shall exhibit its financial condition on the last business day of October, and shall also at any time make such statement of condition and furnish such other information concerning its business as said commissioners may deem necessary. The president of said fund and three or more trustees shall certify and make oath that the report is correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 31.]

782. Annual report to be made to the general court. The insurance commissioner and the bank commissioner shall prepare annually from the said reports concerning insurance departments and the General Insurance Guaranty Fund, and communicate to the general court on or before the first Wednesday in February, a statement of the condition of each savings and insurance bank and of said General Insurance Guaranty Fund, and shall make such suggestions as they may consider expedient relative to the general conduct and condition of each bank visited by them. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 32.]

783. Expenditure.

There may be expended out of the treasury of the commonwealth a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars to carry out the provisions of this act. [Acts, 1907, c. 561, § 33.]

CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS.

(For the statutes governing co-operative banks see compilation issued by the bank commissioner.)

Seven or more persons,

784. Co-operative societies may be formed. residents of the commonwealth, may associate themselves as a corporation, association, society, company or exchange, for the purpose of conducting within the commonwealth any agricultural, dairy or mercantile business on the co-operative plan. The word "cooperative" shall form a part of the name of the corporation, and, for the purposes of this act, the words "association", "company", "exchange", "society ", and "union", shall have the same signification and shall import a corporation. [Acts, 1913, c. 447, § 1.]

785. Incorporation. The corporation shall be formed in the manner prescribed in, and be subject to, the provisions of Acts, 1903, c. 437, and all acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. [Acts, 1913, c. 447, § 2.]

786. Capital stock. The capital stock of such a corporation shall not exceed the amount of ten thousand dollars. No stockholder shall own shares of a greater par value than four hundred dollars, or be entitled to more than one vote on any subject arising in the management of the corporation. [Acts, 1913, c. 447, § 3.]

787. Investment of reserve fund, etc. At any regular meeting, or at any duly called special meeting, at which a majority of all its stockholders shall be present, a corporation organized under this act may authorize the investment of its reserve fund or any part thereof, first, in the building in which it is doing business, or, second, in a first mortgage of real estate owned and occupied as a dwelling by any of its stockholders. [Acts, 1913, c. 447, § 4.]

788. Apportionment of earnings. The directors of every such corporation shall apportion the earnings of the corporation in the following manner:

1. They shall set aside annually not less than ten per cent of the net profits of the corporation for a reserve fund until there is accumulated in said reserve fund an amount not less than thirty per cent of the paid-up capital stock.

2. They shall declare and pay dividends on the paid-up capital stock not exceeding five per cent per annum. [Acts, 1913, c. 447, § 5.]

789. Distribution of earnings. 1. From the balance of the net earnings of the corporation the directors may appropriate a sum not exceeding five per cent of the annual net earnings to be used in teaching co-operation.

2. The directors may distribute the remainder of such earnings, or any part thereof, by a uniform dividend upon the amount of purchases of shareholders, and upon the amount of wages which have been earned and paid to employees, except that in the case of a purchaser who is not a shareholder but who desires to become a shareholder a dividend of one half the uniform dividend may be declared upon