STATE FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 94, 11 September 1896, Page 2

STATE FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE. TO THE EDITOR.

Sra — I am pleased to find that the policyholders are at lash awakening to the fact that they have some interest in the management of the Government Department. " Pol icy holder," in discussing the investment of the Department's funds, touches a note that would, ff harped on, produce discord in the ranks of the autocratic Government. There is another matter which, though not of the same magnitude, does not tend to increase the bonuses— that is, the unwarrantable interference by the Government in the management. There is at the present time quite an army of extra clerks who have been given employment, not by the Manager, but by the various Ministers from time to time, utterly regardless of the requirements, and the Commi?sioner, ■who is responsible for the success or failure of the institution, is absolutely powerless to dispense with them until a change of Government is brought about. When the Chief Medical Referee died a few years ago, it was seen to be a favourable opportunity o[ effecting a very desirable saving in the salary attached to that office, and it was reduced to £200 ; but of course the ] . s^ure on the Commissioner was too great, and the Ministerial nominee succeeded in having the absurdly high salary of £400 reinstated in the Estimates — a salary that is out of all proportion to the services rendered. The connection between the foregoing and the proposed Fire Insurance Department suggests itself. , If the expenses of management of private offices is lii'jh, we can just imagine what the Governmcat Office would be like. I am, &c, Ano'-^r Policyholdeb.