SOLDIERS' LIFE INSURANCE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 26 May 1915, Page 8

SOLDIERS' LIFE INSURANCE

GOVENRMENT OFFICE ARRANGE ' MENTS. .

LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF POLICY

REMOVED

BT TKi__Jt.__._PH—-__i_Sß ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, May 25. When the war broke out, the insur. ance authorities throughout the Do-? minion found themselves in something of a quandi-y. Men who had enlisted and were going to the front were ap-i-iving for insurance policies to cover the risk of death,' and it was apparent at once the ordinary mortality tables could not possibly be applied 'to .such cases. The experience acquired by insurance companies during the wais of the nast was at the disposal of the actuaries, but the greatest of all -ware was being fought under new conditions with unexampled numbers of men in the field and strange and fearful .weapons in use. Under the peculiar conditions of ihe risk, the local insurance companies felt it necessary to place a seve.e una. on the amount ol cover that could be taken by a man going to the front. The Government Life Insurance Department fixed the maximum amount "of insurance for a soldier at £200, .and demanded an additional war premium of £5 per cent, per annum over and above the ordinary premiums. Lately, additional insurance facilities have been placed at the disposal of the soldiers. The State Insurance Office lies removed the limit as far as the enlisted men are concerned, and it is possible now for a member of the Expeditionary Forces to insure his life for a sum large enough to relieve him of a great deal of anxiety regarding the welfare of his dependents in the event cf his falling at the front. The extra war premium of £5 per cent, has been retained. It represents, in the opinion of the actuaries, the smallest sum that can be charged in view of the exceptional nature of the risk. This means that the amount to be paid in premiums during an absence of a year or eighteen months at the front may be fairly large, and the man w vho has only his pay to count upon may find it impossible to take as much as he would like, but the man v. ho has a little money in hand can invest it in this way with .confidence that he is doing the best possible for the dependents he is leaving behind him. The Commissioner of the Slate Office gave a reporter some information upon the subject to-day. "Persons who are enlisting," he said, "may, subject to the usual medical examination and to acceptance by the Commissioner, be insured under any of the ordinary tables at an extra premium of £5 per cent, per annum on the sum assured in addition to the tabular premium. The policy will be endorsed with an undertaking on the part of the Department to reduce the premium to the extent 6f the special war rate mentioned three months After the con-

ision of the war. The amount of risk is not limited in any way."

The Commissioner added that the Department had tried to do its best for the men while at the same time conserving the interests of the ordinary policy holders. The Minister for Defence, to whom the subject was mentioned, said that the terms referred to by the State Insurance- Office provided a means by which enlisted "men could make a very acceptable provision for their dependents "in the event of their death. The Government recognised that the j pension scale at present embodied in the Defence Act would require to be made more liberal, as far as non-oorn-missioned officers and privates were concerned, and he had been giving attention to proposals that would be placed before Parliament when opportunity offered, but he would have no hesitation in advising soldiers having dependents to insure themselves if they could manage it, and so supplement the j provision that the St-ate would make. i