LECTURE ON LIFE ASSURANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5715, 20 June 1879, Page 6

LECTURE ON LIFE ASSURANCE.

Mr Iforitz Bowron, the can racing agent for the Australian Mutual Provident Society, delivered a free lecture on the subject of life assurance, at tho Oddfellows* Hall? yes* terday evening. There was a very small; attendance, the bad weather doubtless preventing a good many persons from being present. The Tery Kov. the Dean of Christchurch occupied the choir, and in a few remarks, in which ho strongly pointed out, the desirability of life assurance, introduced the lecturer. After some allusions to the gradual development of the prinoinles of assurance amongst the English people from the time of Alfred, Mr Bowron went on to explain the advantages of assurance and the distress which arose from the death of a bread-winner without having made provision for his He mentioned the recent Saitangata disaster, where thirty men in the prime and vigour of life were in a moment hurled into eternity, leaving thirty widows with children unprovided for. Had these men assured for £9OO each, there would have been a provision of £9OOO between their families, who would not then have come upon the country as paupers. In nine cases oat of ten there was no need for people to seek relief from the public, if men would only make that provision for their families which it was so easy to do. There were but few remunerative fields of labour for widows, who as a rale earned small wages simply because they were women. When a married man insured his life he was only paying a manly tribute for the care and anxiety his wife bestowed upon her domestic concerns. The lecturer mentioned a couple of instances —one occurring in Christchurch recently—in which men alter pressure had insured their lives, allowed their policies to lapse, and then met with untimely (maths, leaving their families destitute. As instancing the danger of delay he stated that not long since in Dunedin a gentleman had promised to insure his life, but put it off for a time. Then he made up his mind that he would insure for £SOO within a fortnight after returning from the country. On the day he was to meet the agent (Mr Bowron) he. learned upon taking up the paper that the gentleman in returning to town-had been thrown from his horse and killed. He had thus left his familj the melancholy satisfaction of knowing be intended to assure. Ho (Mr Bowron) urged single men to assure, to make provision for old age, or for the responsibilities of a home when married; vent the possibility of penury, and poor men because frequently their policy would be all they could hope to leave behind them in the shape of property. The speaker then went ou to show that the Australian Mutual Providan Society was a sound, safe, and profitable Society to assure in. It had started in Sydney in 1843 with six directors, and was carried on with the assistance of one man and a boy, in on office over a grocer’s shop. At the first annual meeting, held in January, 1850, it was found that thirty life policies had been issued during that year. Last year over 6000 were issued. The Society had been fortunate in the lives taken. The first policy issued was for £3OO, and that was claimed six years afterwards; the second policy was fora similar amount, and that was only recently called in by the family of the insurer, who received, owing to accumulation of profits, £775 18s lid. The whole constitution of the Society was mutual; that was to say any profits accruing from the business were divided amongst the whole of the shareholders on equal terms. Last year there were over 6000 policies issued, assuring a sum of upwards of £2,000,000. The accumulated reserve fund was £2,600,000, and annual income £629,600. The profits were divided every five years. The conditions were liberal. The assured might travel all over the world —in torrid or frigid regions withour paying any additional premium. Although the Society would not accept the habitually intemperate, yet those who were assured and then became so would not forfeit their claims ; their families would not be allowed to suffer from the folly of the assured. The. only exception made was in the' ease of suicide. If before the lapse of thirteen months a policy holder committed suicide, his policy lapsed ; but if after that period, the amount assured became payable to the family of the suicide. Proof oi age was requisite, because the premiums were based upon the age of the assured, and it would lead to serious results if the Society was not particular on this point. A birth certificate, baptismal certificate, an extract from a famili register in the Bible, a declaration from a parent or relative would be accepted ; but failing these, a declaration from the assured himself would be taken. The lecturer concluded by urging all who were not assured not to delay, but to have their “ lives taken ”at once. At the invitation of Mr Bowron several persons remained behind to take preliminary steps in the direction indicated.